Ghost Ashikabi
by neongrimcross
Summary: After being off the grid for what seemed like an eternity a man who was known to be a ghost to the world decides to come back to the surface and finds himself in one fine mess. However this man is not one to play by the rules and does as he pleases since those who want to find him will need all the luck in the world to do so unless he chooses to let them.
1. Back on the grid

**Ghost Ashikabi**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Sekirei anime. Only the OC is mine.**

**Chapter 1: Back on the grid**

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_'How long has it been? A year? 10? Maybe 20? I can't really say. It could have even been eternity and I'd still won't notice.'_ Thought a certain man in black and white, as he made his way up a set of stairs in a dimly lit room.

Said individual was wearing an all black full body suit, black gloves, and a white hooded trench coat that had seen better days.

He finally reached what looked like an exit and carefully opened the door, making no noise as it opened and let more light into wherever he was. He silently left his lair and closed the door behind him as he looked at the outside world he'd stayed hidden from for who knows how long.

'Time to see what's new here and also stay up to date.' The man took a few steps and 'disappeared' into the environment without leaving a trace.

...

Shinto Teito, Year 2020

'_So this is Shinto Teito, formerly the city of Tokyo? I wonder what happened to cause such change?'_

The white and black clothed man was sitting on top of a building, looking down below at the cars and people moving about from one place to another. It didn't take long for him to find out that Tokyo, Japan had become Shinto Teito, Japan. Instead of panicking, he calmly tried to make sense of the situation he was now in and so far he was coming up empty.

_'Might as well go down to ground level. I won't be able to find everything out from the rooftops.'_

One moment he was moving away from the edge of the building then the next he was on the ground, wearing a much better looking white hooded trench coat. He easily melded into the crowd of commuters and people moving about. No one even paid attention to him. The man eventually stopped by an electronics store where he saw TVs on display by the store window.

_'Maybe I'll get some info from the TV here.'_

"And in other breaking news Hiroto Minaka, the President of MBI has bought up 80% of all Shinto Teito stocks..." The man looked at one of the tvs on display to see a man with white messy hair, glasses, white suit and a white cape sitting in a chair like he was some king. He ignored the rest of the news as he blended into the crowd once more.

_'Someone's overcompensating for his douche baggery. And this MBI basically owns a portion of Japan. Wow! How quaint.'_

The news he heard brought up some memories of large corporations that bought up cities and their violent downfalls. When will people ever learn that no good can come out of large companies buying the country or cities.

_'Whatever not my problem. If they want to get fucked by corporations like MBI, whom I know will fuck them over, then it's not my problem if it happens. They'll only have their stupid selves to blame.'_

As he continued walking past the many people that went in the opposite and same direction he went, the hooded man sensed that someone was following him, which was a surprise to him. He had made efforts to not bring attention to himself and this person had begun following after he crossed the last intersection.

_'There's no way anyone would have seen or sensed me at all unless it was those two and it's obvious that it's none of them that's following me.'_

Deciding to lose his stalker or at least lead them elsewhere so that he'd confront them, the hooded man 'vanished' from the crowd into the shadows of a nearby alley. Then from there he was on top of the building looking down on the street he'd left without a trace to look for whoever was tailing him. Seeing no one apparently looking for him, he sighed and relaxed a bit.

_'Maybe I'm getting paranoid. Being off the grid for a long time is bound to do that to someone.'_

However he tensed up again as he sensed the familiar presence again, now on the rooftop of the building next to the one he was on. He could tell that it was a female and she was adept at stealth like he was and used the shadows to her advantage. Though she tried her best to stay undetected by him, he could still tell that she was around and pinpoint her location.

_'So you know a thing about stealth. But let's see how you do against a ghost?'_

He walked into the shadow created by the entrance to the rooftop and vanished from the female's sight surprising her. She leaps to the building he was on and looked around trying to find him but to no avail. He had vanished right in plain sight. Like a ghost. The woman placed her hand close to her chest as she felt her heart beating quickly in anticipation of this hunt. An open challenge by this man saying, "Find me if you can."

_'It's only a matter of time before I find you Ashikabi-sama.'_ The woman thought as she too vanished into the shadows like her target did earlier. After she had gone, the man himself later reappeared in an alley, looking up at the building where he and the woman were once standing.

_'Okay. Who in the world is that woman? She just vanished into the shadows like I did. And here I thought I was the only one capable of literally walking and hiding in the shadows.'_

He found out that the sun was setting and soon it would become his favorite time of the day. Night time where he really became a ghost. Under the shadow of his hood the man grinned in anticipation the darkness of the night.

_'Night's coming. It'll be just the time for me to explore this place and find out about the major places here and also get a place to stay.'_

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**Chapter 1 end.**

**This is my first fanfic involving the Sekirei anime which I started watching a few months ago. So bear with me with the way I write this.**

**My OC is the main guy here though Minato would get some screen time of his own. As for his sekirei, well you should have already figured out the first one.**

**My OC himself is one of my other OCs that is in one of my other fanfics. Take a guess who by sending me a PM.**

**Read and review.**

**Sayonara!**


	2. Mind and Shadow

**Ghost Ashikabi**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Sekirei anime.**

**Chapter 2: Mind and Shadow**

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It's night time in Shinto Teito. This is the time for many to recharge themselves for the next day. For some it is the time for them to go to work on their night shifts or night jobs. For some it is also the time when crazy things occur and for some it is their favorite time of the day to do what they want. Like a certain man who's become a shadow and is exploring Shinto Teito's Southern city.

Unfortunately it is also the time where some people find themselves in one fine mess. A good example right now is a young woman who's on the run from some other three other women. She possessed ashen gray hair that was cut short with in a spiky trail at the back of her head. Her dress was a violet hue and looked like a mix of eastern and western styles. A frilly lace rose up from her top to cover the back of her neck. She wore red framed glasses that had a strap to keep them on her person.

_'Just my luck. I had hoped to avoid being found out here but it seems that luck wasn't on my side after all. Now I have to deal with a forceful winging. How trite.'_ The woman lamented to herself.

"What's the point of running? You know that there's no escape from us. It's only a matter of time before we catch you and bring you back to Mikogami-sama." One of women chasing her called out.

While this was happening, a shadowed individual was watching the chase from the darkness of the roof he was under. He seemed to be contemplating something too.

_'Seriously. That lady must have bad luck. She's been chased around by those three for close to an hour and at that rate fatigue would take her.'_ The individual wondered.

"I normally don't go out of my way to save people but I'll do so just this once and hopefully don't end up regretting it." After muttering that to himself he tensed up as a familiar presense was close by and she had lust coming off of her.

_'Not her again! How the hell is she able to find me, especially at this time of the day? I'll give her points for persistence but too persistent is what she is.'_

He dropped from his position under the roof and disappeared into the darkness again hoping to lose this persistent stalker and also rescue the unfortunate woman that was running for her life. His stalker landed on the roof in the same position her target was hanging under from.

_'Damn it! I just lost him again. Why does he still play hard to get? He's only delaying the inevitable and causing me unnecessary pain.'_ she thought. Then she saw the lone woman who was being chased by three others and she recognized them.

_'That's #22 Kochou and that brat's sekirei. And based on where he dropped he must be going in their direction, most likely to help her though that's suicidal for him.'_ She had just managed to sense the direction her target was going before his aura vanished.

_'Well as crazy as he is, I'm not going to lose my ashikabi!'_

The woman known as Kochou was finally starting to slow down. While she was much more fit than a normal average person even she could get fatigued especially after jumping from rooftops, and running on the ground from three people that want to drag you away to a "fate worse than death". She knew she wasn't cut out for all these physically tasking stuff like the three women behind her and it was only a matter of time before she was caught and dragged of to the one they call 'Mikogami-sama'. She knew who it was they were talking about and she did not like that little brat one bit.

Unfortunately while she was thinking she had run into an alley and by the time she stopped her thinking, she found herself in a dead end. The alley was mostly dark except with one lamp on the wall that dimly lit a small part of the alley. Her luck got worse when her pursuers finally caught up with her and cut off her only way out, but at the same time her only form of salvation was also close by in the alley but just out of sight.

"About time you stopped. This chase was getting on my nerves. Now don't resist as we take you to our ahikabi."

Kochou turned around to see the three people who had been hell bent on catching her. She was not the only person that was looking at them as the shadowed individual had arrived and was also looking at the scene below him.

The first one was a young woman with blue hair and wore an elegant white dress that opened at the front and revealing some of her feminine features. The second one had black hair and a yellow and black outfit that finished at the bottom and dressed with stockings and she carried a red whip with her. The third one had light brown hair and wore a black and white dress that reached her thighs, black stockings and gloves and a black hair ornament of some kind. The sight of these three caused the 'shadow' to raise an eyebrow at this.

_'Okay. One seems to enjoy showing off her chest, one looks like some kind of dominatrix and the last one is a bit too early for Halloween. And what's this Ashikabi they are talking about?'_ He continued to observe the scene below him.

Kochou suddenly felt her heart beating rapidly, her breathing become ragged and she was blushing. The other three women and even the 'shadow' saw this and were stunned at this.

"What the hell! She's reacting?!" shouted the woman in black and white.

"Are you kidding? Where's the ashikabi?!" The woman in the white dress asked.

_'Reacting? Ashikabi? Okay what the hell's going on? Whatever time to make my move.'_

"No matter. Let's just knock her out and- HEY! WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS?!"

Before they could take action, the 'shadow' had already began his move as he took out a throwing knife and threw it at the only source of light in the alley, covering the place in darkness, as at the same time the moon was covered by dark clouds in the sky. He silently landed behind the one known as Kochou and clamped a hand over her mouth and used the other to lock her arm behind her before she could scream or protest, and then he vanished into the darkness with the woman.

When the clouds dispersed and the moonlight illuminated the alley, the three women looked back at where Kochou was, only to find out that she was gone.

"You've got to be kidding me?"

"She slipped through our fingertips..."

"Mikogami-sama's not going to like this."

The three women left the alley for the rooftops and left the area.

When Kochou opened her eyes, she found herself in a quaint position. She was being bridal carried by a man wearing all black, the trench coat having seen better days and the hood concealing his face from her. Her heartbeat was getting faster, her breathing becoming more erratic and was blushing. She reached for his hood, only for her hand to be intercepted.

"Can't I see my savior's face?" She asked the unknown person with a serious, analytic expression.

"It's better that you don't. For your own safety." The person said. Kochou could tell that it was a male's voice. It was deep and distant, like a loner. She took a moment to see where they currently were. It looked like a medium size room which was only lit by the moonlight from the outside and three windows. There was a bed, table, chair, small couch, kitchen sink and refrigerator. Her ashikabi placed her on the couch and then went to the chair and sat in it.

"Alright you. Come out of my shadow. NOW." he said.

Kochou was taken back by his statement. Before she could make sense of it, a woman came out of her ashikabi's shadow, literally to be speaking and she knew who this person was. She was #57: Yahan, The Shadow Sekirei. She was dark skinned with jet black hair and wore bikini top beneath a hooded shawl, a sarong that was held by a belt and knee high boots.

"Wow. How did you know that I was hiding in your shadow?" Yahan asked, "You must be-Who are you?"

"#22: Kochou." Kochou answered.

"#57: Yahan." Yahan said, "So you're reacting to him too huh?"

"Alright hold it right there. I want answers here and I want them NOW. What are you two and what is this about "reacting" to me and "ashikabi"?" the hooded man in front of them spoke up.

Kochou adjusted her glasses before she turned to her ashikabi, "We are Sekirei, and we're not birds but named after them. An ashikabi is what you'd call a 'soulmate' or 'destined one' to us sekirei and reacting is what happens when a sekirei finds their ashikabi or is in proximity of them, which prompts them to seek him or her out."

"Like when you were blushing and your heart beat and breathing were becoming erratic. And I am a potential ashikabi?" The man asked.

"Yes. I reacted the moment you showed up near me. You were definitely in the area when I was being chased by those three sekirei."

"And I reacted when you were on the rooftops earlier today. And I've been trying to find you all along. Why did you have to play hard to get?" Yahan asked.

"Paranoia." he answered bluntly, "So now that you've found me what's next?"

Yahan and Kochou walked up to him as he stood up expecting trouble. Yahan reached up and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him closer and said, "This is next." Then she kissed him and a pair of wings came out from her back and lit up the room for a while. When they stopped kissing the wings disappeared and the brightness of the room. While he was dazed the man heard Yahan recite some sort of pledge and then Kochou turned him around and kissed him again and the same thing happened and ended with some pledge that sounded different from Yahan's.

After recovering his bearings he glared at the two sekirei in front of him who couldn't see his glare thanks to his hood and saw them happy like they had just met the love of their life.

"What. The. Hell. Was. That?"

"You winged us. That's what. And now you're a part of the Sekirei Plan." Yahan answered for him.

"Let me guess, you kissing me was like sealing the contract between an ashikabi and sekirei?"

"Yes, that's the process called winging and now we are both yours forever." Kochou said.

"What kind of sekirei are you two?"

"I am a shadow sekirei. I can manipulate the shadows to my advantage even in a fight." Yahan proudly said.

"Well I'm a brain type. I'm good at gathering information and manipulating electronics like computers." Kochou stated.

"I see. And what is this Sekirei Plan?"

"It's some kind of contest organized by the president of MBI, Minaka Hiroto, where sekirei find their ashikabis and then fight against each other until there's only one ashikabi and sekirei left." Yahan stated.

"What happens to the winners then?"

"They get to ascend and bring the age of the gods." Kochou said.

"And what about the losers?"

"They get separated from their sekirei." Yahan said.

"Well I'll have no part of some madman's bull shit. I'm not participating in this game of his."

"Unfortunately you don't have much of a choice." Kochou spoke up, "If you try to run or hide MBI will just send people out to eliminate you."

The hooded man giggled and looked at Kochou with a feral grin on his lips which she could see.

"Well good luck to them on that. They couldn't find me if they tried hard enough."

"Why?" Yahan asked, "MBI has surveillance, satellites and all kinds of stuff to pinpoint your location. And they'd most likely have records of you to begin with. Besides you should be getting a call from them soon since you've winged us."

"Then we'll be waiting a long time for that. I'm a ghost to them and no matter what they do they'll never find me unless I let them. Just like I did with you Yahan."

"Huh?! What do you mean by that?" Yahan said in surprise.

"The only reason why you were able to find me and enter my shadow was because I let you, since I was getting tired of our game of catch me if you can, which you were losing by the way."

"I see. No wonder why it was so hard for me to find you. You must be a master of stealth if you could easily blend in the environment so well." Yahan stated.

"The best at it to be precise. Not even the best tracker can find me even on my worst day. By the way Kochou, you said that you can manipulate electronics right? Can you disable MBI's way of tracking me?"

"Yes I can and I've already did that before you winged us." Kochou answered.

"That's good to know. Though even if you didn't it wouldn't make a difference since they'll never find me."

"By the way, what's our ashikabi's name?" Yahan asked, "We can't keep calling you ashikabi-sama right and how about you let us see your face?"

The man sighed, "I'd prefer not to. The less people know of me the better for them. Although since you are now my sekirei I'll at least tell you my name as long as you tell no one else." After getting nods from his sekirei he sighed again, "Name's Renato Agba. That's all you're getting from me."

"Okay we'll keep it secret. But if I may ask, why do you not want people knowing who you are?" Kochou inquired.

"Because if people knew I was still around hell would break loose and you two and innocents would get caught in the crossfire and I'll have to silence everyone involved even you two." Renato answered grimly.

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**Chapter 2 End.**


	3. Icy Heart

**Ghost Ashikabi**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Sekirei anime.**

**Chapter 3: Icy Heart**

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MBI had a problem. Scratch that! They had a big problem. Sekirei #s 22 and 57 had been winged but #22 had messed with their satellites, surveillance and tracking tech so that they couldn't be located. Wasn't a big deal for them as they eventually got things back in order. What was causing the personnel there to go crazy was that they had no idea who the ashikabi of said sekirei were. They had no DNA records of him, photos or anyway to identify him and worse no means to contact him, to keep him under their thumbs and make sure that he did not try anything suspicious like leave Shinto Teito with his sekirei.

In fact the person that was causing pandemonium at MBI was basically a ghost.

Minaka Hiroto was definitely not happy about this situation. It was a disaster as far as he was concerned. He had taken every precaution to make sure something like this wouldn't happen but unfortunately, even the best laid plans didn't go the way one wanted.

Beside him, Takami Sahashi was just as pissed at the situation but unlike Minaka who didn't let it show on his face, she made it well known to everyone.

"All hands on deck you morons! I want this unknown ashikabi found ASAP by any means necessary! Search every nook and cranny of the city and make sure you find him!"

Minaka was glad that Takami had taken action before he even gave the word. Still he was not going to stand for someone who completely mocked his plans and did not play by his rules. If he only knew who he was dealing with.

Renato Agba, the paranoid master of stealth as he calls himself, found himself in a fine mess. He comes back on the grid after seven years, from what he managed to figure out, and ends up an unwilling participant in some lunatic's sick game free-for-all death match known as the Sekirei Plan. He's now the ashikabi of two of these sekirei out of a 108 of them like he was told by them and after winging them they are now connected to him by a psychic bond which he found nerve racking.

#22 Kochou was what was known as a 'brain type' sekirei. Not really made for physical combat, but more of an information gatherer, hacker and mainly good with tech. She'd easily be his source of information in Shinto Teito. She was mostly serious and analytic especially since she's been trying to figure him out.

#57 Yahan was a shadow sekirei who could manipulate shadows in and out of combat and was adept at the use of knives. Hell she was good at stealth though not at Renato's level if he could easily detect her when she was hiding in his own freaking shadow! That part really got him freaked out and even more paranoid. Anyways, with some training from him he could make her much better at stealth.

As for Renato's sekirei, they only knew his name. He did not tell them much about him. All they could sum up was that he was paranoid and always kept his face hidden with a hood and claimed to be a master at stealth, even to the point of saying that he was a ghost to everyone including MBI. Yahan could see that as possible because she found it difficult to find him and the only reason why she was able to even sense him at all was because she was reacting to him. Kochou however was skeptical thinking that he was bluffing.

Right now it was afternoon and Renato was moving through the rooftops by parkour to get around the city. He was in his usual white hooded trench coat but a white body suit this time. The sun was up and there was no way he'd wear black in this heat. Yahan was with him but in his shadow. Renato was still finding it hard to get used to that. Meanwhile Kochou was still in one of his safe houses which he'd soon get rid of today after he's done looking for other places to lay low in the city.

According to what Kochou told him, MBI were in an uproar because they are unable to identify him and are doing all they can to track him down. Renato found it funny once more that MBI's so concerned about him spilling secrets about sekirei or even leaving the city with his own. Honestly he didn't care, since they won't be able to do anything to stop him since they'd have to find him first.

Minaka Hiroto had become someone that had ended up on his to kill list, just below two others he hated. That white haired lunatic reminded of that bitch Mako Yashiro, the woman who gave him his accursed life, and he would have killed her earlier when he escaped from her but at that time saw her as not worth it, that is until he found out that she had made two more people like him and he regretted letting her live. He would have killed her, if one of those two hadn't killed her first. And now they both want him dead or locked up for life. Good thing they haven't been able to find him because if they did, all hell would break loose.

Another person who had made his to kill list was Higa Izumi, the CEO of Higa Pharmaceuticals, the so called ashikabi of the south. From what Kochou told him, he was one who forced wing sekirei to create his own army, blackmail other ashikabis to work for him. Worse he saw sekirei as nothing but tools, which Renato hated. So the east was out of the question.

Then there was Hayato Mikogami, a spoiled brat that saw sekirei as the next best accessories. Apparently he had save Kochou from being forced winged by him that night and becoming a part of his collection. Renato didn't give a shit about him, but still preferred not to deal with him since spoiled brats were just major headaches. So the south was out.

That left the west and north. There was an ashikabi ruled there but he didn't really make moves like those two. Then there was the north where none of those three even dared to go to even MBI, because of a hanya there that scared the shit out of them. So Renato decided that the north would be a good place to lay low in.

"So the North it is?" Yahan asked from within Renato's shadow.

"Yeah. Do you know any places in the North that are great for laying low in?" Renato asked.

"Honestly I don't know. Doesn't matter though since MBI surveillance doesn't go there or the other ashikabis don't even dare go there thanks to the hanya there." Yahan answered.

"I doubt there's even a hanya there. Most likely there's just someone that's really powerful there that can wipe the floor with all of them if they messed around there." Renato stated.

"What makes you think that?"

"Common sense. Hanyas don't exist duh!"

"Eh-heh. Right..."

Renato suddenly stopped which caught Yahan's attention.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"One of your sisters' getting chased by some attackers." Renato answered.

"So you want to help her?"

"I don't mind doing one good deed for the day before we get back to base."

"I don't see why you should be involved, but if that's what you want then go ahead and I'm coming with you."

"Like you'd ever let me out of your sight."

Yahan sighed as Renato changed direction and followed after the three sekirei that were leaping from rooftop to rooftop and at a fast pace. Normal humans wouldn't have been able to keep with with a sekirei but Renato wasn't a normal human and he kept up with them while staying out of sight.

He saw what seemed to be the end of the chase when one the sekirei who was wearing what looked like a shrine maiden outfit that barely reached her knees, long socks and boots, and red MMA gloves jump from the building that was much too high for her and end up landing on an unfortunate youth that didn't notice her on time.

"Ouch! That's gonna hurt." Renato said as he winced at the impact, "Though I'd say that he's a lucky bastard for having a girl like her land on him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yahan asked.

"Nothing." he stated as he watched. He saw that both the shrine maiden girl and the teen that she landed on where okay then he saw them get out of the way of a lightning bolt that struck where they were at. Renato traced the attack path and spotted the attackers and had his jaw drop at what he saw.

"What. The. Hell? Dominatrix twins? And they use lightning?"

"Those two are the lightning twins. #11 and 12, Hikari and Hibiki." Yahan said as she came out of Renato's shadow, "They're notorious for attacking unwinged sekirei before they can meet their ashikabis. They chased me once and nearly fried me with their lightning attacks."

Renato had a blank look on his face as he watched the twins, "You want payback on them?"

Yahan saw that look on his face and felt the feeling of vengeance in him through their bond. Whatever he was thinking she had no doubt it was not going to be good. "As much as I'd like payback, I'm not in a hurry to do that."

"I see. Okay if you say so."

Renato and Yahan watched as the youth got in front of the shrine maiden in a protective stance to shield her from the lightning twins. Renato also saw their hesitation in attacking.

"Is it against the rules for a sekirei to attack a human or ashikabi?" he asked.

"Yes it is." Yahan answered, "Why do you ask?"

"Well I'm going to do one good deed for the kid."

"You're going to attack the twins?"

"Not exactly. Just disable them so that he and that sekirei can get away."

Before Yahan could protest, her ashikabi had jumped to the building the twins were on and landed silently without alerting them. Renato stood up from his crouched position and silently moved towards them. When he got into range he knocked out the twin that had a bigger bust out with a quick strike at her pressure point in her neck without alerting the other one. However the other twin somehow noticed the sudden silence from her sister and before she could react he put her in a choke hold and put her to sleep.

After he was done he looked down at the youth and the sekirei who were dumbfounded at his quick takedowns of the twins. He did a quick casual salute to them and vanished from their sight while leaving the unconscious twins on the roof. He returned back to Yahan who had just finished picking her jaw off the ground.

"Nice of you to close your mouth and not attract flies, Yahan. But it's time for us to leave." Renato said.

"HEY!" Yahan exclaimed.

Renato ignored her and touched his earpiece, "Kochou?"

_"Yes Renato-sama?"_

"Shut down MBI's tracking systems here."

_"I'm already on it. Alright done. You have 15 minutes tops to get out before they get their satellites back online."_

"More than enough. Thanks Kochou." He cut off the comms as he turned to face Yahan. "Let's make ourselves scarce Yahan."

"Yes Renato-sama." Yahan acknowledged as she went into his shadow.

"Sheesh can't they stop calling me that. They are not my slaves or servants." Renato muttered before he walked into the shadow of a wall on top of the building and also vanished without a trace.

Thanks to Renato's minor chivalrous action back there, it was taking them longer to get back to their safe house and now it was dark. Fortunately they had avoided MBI's satellites thanks to Kochou's abilities. Yahan did not like it but Renato was in a good mood and Yahan just found it odd that her ashikabi liked the night so much.

They later found themselves in a park where they intended to cut through to save themselves time. As they were moving from branch to branch, Renato saw something odd and stopped. Yahan stopped the moment she didn't sense his movement and went back to him.

"What are you stopping for Renato-sama? Don't we need to get home?" Yahan asked her ashikabi.

"Wait here. If something troubling shows up inform me." Renato commanded, before dropping from the branch. Landing silently he made his closer to what had caught his attention and was lost for words when he got a good look.

On a lone bench sat a well endowed, young woman. She was sitting with her knees up against her chest, arms wrapped around her legs and was wearing next to nothing save for a bloodied lab coat over her shoulders and white panties. What got Renato's attention more was the empty eyes that were gazing at nothing. He'd seen those eyes before; the kind that people in deep depression and hopelessness have. He once had those eyes himself.

_'I don't know what happened to her but I know that look from anywhere. She's given up on life-okay...why is that symbol on her head and not her upper back?'_

Renato had just realized that the lady on the bench had her sekirei symbol on her head and not her upper back below the neck like Yahan and Kochou. He had no idea why but for some reason he didn't want to leave this woman alone either. So he steeled himself and walked up to her.

"Hello there. What's a beautiful person like you doing here by yourself?" Renato asked.

The lady turned to look at the man in all black and wondered how he sneaked up on her without her noticing.

"Who...who are you?" she asked.

"A concerned person, that's all. You'll catch a cold if you stay there, especially in those clothes."

"Why? Why do you want to help me? I'm broken and I have no home to go to nor can I have an ashikabi." she said as she tucked her head into her legs and buried them in silence and sorrow.

"I'm helping because I know what it's like to be broken." Renato answered, getting the lady's attention as she raised her head up with wide eyes, "And like all broken people I was fixed by someone who cared and what is broken can be fixed. So c'mon let's go. We can't stay here all day-"

"Akitsu..."

"Yes, Akitsu. Let's go home where you can have a better life and even fix you."

"You...you'd become my ashikabi."

"Only if you want to."

That did it for her as Akitsu got up wearily and walked up to Renato. She then tripped and fainted into his arms as he reacted to catch her. Renato lifted her in a princess carry and looked around.

_'Okay...that's awkward.' _Renato thought. Then sounds from his earpiece got his attention.

_"Renato-sama!"_

"What is it, Yahan?"

_"Someone's coming towards your position...It's Hayato Mikogami and his sekirei! You'd better get out of there before they see you."_

"Get down here then, we're leaving now."

Yahan landed at Renato's side and stood up after. With Akitsu in his arms, he and Yahan walked into the shadow of a nearby tree and vanished without a trace, just as Hayato Mikogami arrived with his sekirei and leaving the spoiled brat to whine like one after he didn't get what he wanted.

* * *

**End of Chapter 3.**

**Yes, I've had Renato gain two sekirei and a third one on the way. If you have any suggestions for other sekirei to join his group, make them known to me and with a good reason. I'm trying to go with canon but with a few twists and turns there.**

**Yep he helped a certain other sekirei and ashikabi that you all should already know of.**

**Read and review.**

**Sayonara.**


	4. New Wings

**Ghost Ashikabi**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Sekirei anime.**

**Chapter 4: New Wings**

* * *

Renato and Yahan arrived at the safe house with Akitsu the "scrapped number" in tow. Yahan went off to rest for the night and Renato went to one of the rooms to lay Akitsu on the bed and went back to find Kochou, who was on a laptop he had given her to use.

"How can I help you Renato-sama?"

"Kochou, what do you know about the "scrapped number" BS pertaining to Akitsu?"

"I don't know much about it but I can tell you what I know. It has to do with the adjuster for Akitsu messing up on the job due to his arrogance and because of that she cannot be winged by any ashikabi no matter what. The man got fired for it and tried to take it out on Akitsu but she escaped after defending herself."

"So thanks to some incompetent bastard Akitsu cannot be winged, and worse that psycho Minaka let her loose for his own amusement. Is there a way to undo the effects?"

"Not as far as I know. The other adjusters at MBI tried to undo the effect but to no avail. Why do you ask?"

"Well I found Akitsu at the park this night and took her in to be my sekirei before that Mikogami brat did."

"What?! She's here. And you want her to be your sekirei?"

"Yes and I intend to fix her too."

"How? If the people at MBI could not fix her how can you?"

"When there's a will there's always a way. If it's broken then it can be fixed and I intend to do just that."

"Is it with another one of your secret talents?"

"You can say that."

"Fine. I'll leave you to it. Maybe you'd succeed where others didn't."

"Okay one more thing Kochou, how's MBI doing in regards to me?"

"So far they still have nothing on you, however they are doubling their efforts to find you. Minaka even plans to send the Discipline Squad to find you."

"Hmph! Good luck to them then. And Kochou get some rest for tomorrow."

"Yes Renato-sama."

After leaving her room Renato went back to the room where Akitsu was and found her awake with panic on her face until she spotted him and relaxed in relief. He went to her right side of the bed and took out a chair and sat on it.

"How are you doing Akitsu?" Renato asked.

"Ah...I'm feeling alright now." Akitsu replied.

"If you think this is a dream then it's not as it's as real as it gets."

"Ah...I see. But...I am still broken."

"Well I'm about to work on that right now. Just need you to not move too much."

"Ah...Okay."

Akitsu laid down on the bed as Renato took out a pair of goggles and adjusted them to show her nervous system and blood vessels.

_'Alright. Time to see what's the problem.'_

Renato scanned her nervous system trying to trace where the problem was. It was the first time he was looking into a sekirei in general but Akitsu's case caught his attention as he kept looking for the problem and he found it. It looked like some kind of seal was stuck around her forehead as an obstruction of some sorts.

_'That asshole that fucked up had better pray to whatever god or deity he worships because when I find him I'll make sure there's nothing left of him to identify. Anyways, it looks like whatever it is at her forehead is messing around with her ability to be winged by an ashikabi. It's like she's already winged herself but at the same time she's not winged. There's a way to fix it but it won't be easy since I'm not as good as she was at this kind of procedure.'_

Renato removed the goggles and stared at Akitsu with a smile on her face making her feel some glimmer of hope.

"I've got good news for you Akitsu. I can fix your problem right now." Renato spoke, making Akitsu go wide eyed, "However it's a risk to do that as the procedure I want to pull off was done by a close person to me who was very good at it. So do you want me to go ahead or do you prefer to wait for me to get someone else?"

"Ah...I want you to go ahead and do it now." Akitsu said.

"Are you sure about this? I'm taking a huge risk here."

"Yes, I am sure."

"Okay here goes nothing."

Akitsu closed her eyes as Renato breathed in and out before he he began the treatment. He was going to attempt to hit some of her pressure points to undo the effect of the messed up seal. His close friend from way back was a skilled doctor with accupuntures and manipulation of pressure points and used them efficiently and effectively to cure people of illnesses and other medical conditions. He'd learnt it from them because they insisted that he should learn to be able to do that in case he was in trouble and couldn't reach them. Renato was used to using pressure points to incapacitate or kill but now he could use it medically though not as good as his friend. So he decided to just wing it!

With the tips of his middle and index finger he gently probed at behind and below her ears, her temples and her lower spine. Akitsu felt a chill go up her spine, her body quivered a little, her forehead had a tingling sensation on it and the same sensation came on her back between the shoulder blades. Renato seeing the Sekirei crest on her forehead gone sighed in relief. He'd just done something risky and if he screwed up he may have crippled her for life, or worse, killed her and he didn't need that on his conscience since he already had enough skeletons in his closet.

Meanwhile Akitsu noticed her breathing becoming erratic and her heart beat increasing rapidly. She felt her cheeks blush and her body heat up at being close to Renato.

_'What is this feeling? Is it what the others feel like when near their ashikabis?'_

Renato noticed this and knew what was going on. She was reacting to him and not surprisingly as she sat up and looked into his black eyes that she could barely see due to the shadows of his hood.

"Akitsu."

"Yes."

"Let's see if you can get winged."

Akitsu quickly slid her arms up to around Renato's neck and pulled herself up for a kiss. Renato didn't resist as he too returned the kiss. Wings of light burst through her back, pale blue and icy cold, but pure and beautiful. After they both released from the embrace, the Sekirei looked at him with her face flushed with more color than the pale one he saw before and this time he saw that her eyes had life in them and tears were flowing down.

"Sekirei #07, Akitsu, yours; now and forever." Akitsu said.

"Congrats Akitsu. It's now official. You're my sekirei and I'm your ashikabi." Renato replied with a small smile. Then she hugged him tight as she repeatedly said, "Thank you." while he acknowledged with, "You're welcome, Akitsu."

* * *

Once again in MBI there was pandemonium, the personnel were running around like headless chickens, alarms and sirens were going off as they all tried to figure out what the hell just happened but were not getting anywhere.

"Everybody get your asses in gear before I shove my foot so far in that you won't be sitting for months!" Takami shouted, and the results were instant as everyone got their wits together and went back to their computers to figure out what had caused the alarms. "What is it this time?"

"It's the scrapped number ma'am! Akitsu's just been w-winged!" One of the workers shouted.

"Impossible! You'd better not be playing with me!" she said as she walked to the monitor and checked the feedback. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she gasped. "Who's the ashikabi?"

"Ma'am, it's the same unknown ashikabi that winged Kochou and Yahan. The one we still can't find."

"Seriously?! Then triple your efforts! I don't care if you all drop from exhaustion or if you get insomnia, I want you to get all information on this ashikabi! Understand?"

"Ma'am."

In his office on the top floor of MBI, Minaka is fuming as he watches the proceedings in the lab on a portable monitor. "So Ghost Ashikabi-kun still wants to wing these little birds but not play the game? No matter I'm the Game Master and I still hold the cards in this game."

* * *

The next day Renato and his Sekirei: Yahan, Kochou and now Akitsu are up and on the table eating breakfast that he'd prepared for them. Toast, bacon, eggs, and miso soup with milk and orange juice. Of course the sight of Akitsu without her crest on her forehead got the attention of Kochou and Yahan who stared at their ashikabi who just ignored their looks and enjoyed his breakfast.

"In case you want to ask, yes I winged Akitsu last night." Renato spoke, "So treat her like your sister too."

"How? How did you wing her?" Yahan asked.

"Was it with that secret talent of yours?" Kochou asked.

"Yes it was and I was able to undo what that fool of an adjuster did." Renato answered, "By the way, remind me to kill him if we ever come across him."

"Ah...no need." Akitsu said as she brought herself closer to Renato and grasped his arm, "I have you as my ashikabi now. He's no longer worth it."

"Alright Akitsu. If it makes you happy I'll forget about him."

Akitsu smiled as she hugged his arm. Yahan just sighed and continued eating her breakfast and Kochou had a worried look on her face that Renato did not miss.

"What's wrong Kochou?"

"MBI are really losing it now because of Akitsu's winging and their inability to find you. Not only that but you have the attention of other sekireis and ashikabis in Shinto Teito who would no doubt be looking for you." Kochou stated.

"Are you worried?"

"Yes I am. MBI already sent their Discipline Squad to look for you and the leader is not the kind of person you want to be seen by. Higa Izumi would no doubt want to seek you out to either join him or eliminate you and Hayato Mikogami no doubt still holds a grudge for you beating him to Akitsu."

"No need to be worried about our ashikabi, Kochou." Yahan spoke up, "He's got me, you and Akitsu who's a single digit protecting him. Plus they'll need to find him first which I doubt they'll be able to."

"Ah...I'll defend Ashikabi-sama from anyone who seeks to harm him." Akitsu stated.

"Thanks Yahan, Akitsu. Kochou, you don't have to worry about me. Even if they want me dead they'll have to find me first. And even if they somehow find me I am more than capable of defending myself." Renato said.

"Okay, I'll hold you to that Renato-sama." Kochou said.

"Well then, today we'll be leaving this safe house which I'll be blowing sky high after. Need to cover my tracks you know." Renato said.

"Really? Where are we going next?" Yahan asked.

"North. So we'll be leaving soon after we're done and in the disguises I have set for us all." Renato answered.

An hour later, under the morning sun, four people were walking towards the North of Shinto Teito. The three women were wearing traditional kimono and hakamas of different colors. One wore white and light blue, one wore all white and the third one had white and red. The man with them wore a white collared shirt, a white haori and white trousers and a straw hat on top. All wore white tabi and sandals.

"Okay. Time to watch a little fireworks." The man said as he pressed a button on his phone. What followed next was rumbling on the ground, the sound of explosions going off in the distance, people screaming and running around like headless chickens and police sirens.

"That should keep them occupied while we make ourselves scarce, ladies."

And scarce they did make themselves as they easily left the area while the commotion was going on, no one bothering to pay attention to them.

Three hours later, the four people were now in the North. They were still looking for a place until they found a poster for a place called Maison Izumo, that had vacancies.

"Ladies. We've finally found a place to stay in."

"That's good to know."

"Ah...great."

"Now can we get out of these disguises? They're making me look ridiculous."

"Fine. Let's go to that alley over there."

The four people went into a nearby alley and after a few minutes, four different people came out: Renato in his signature outfit, Kochou, Yahan in their normal outfits and Akitsu now wearing a white kimono, that was close to being torn apart due to her large chest but only held together by chains, and a black skirt. How and where she got those chains they would never know and Renato wasn't in the mood to find out but he accepted the sight either way.

They finally arrived at the building that was known as Maison Izumo. It was a two story building with windows and a fence around it. It had the traditional Japanese feel to it just by the sight of it, according to Renato.

"Nice house. I wonder who's the owner." Yahan commented.

Anyways, they walked up to the front door and Renato lightly knocked on it. He heard movement and then the door opened, revealing someone who caught him by surprise. Standing in front of him was a beautiful woman long purple hair that reached her waist and brown eyes. She was wearing a white haori with a sash like belt, a purple hakama and wooden sandals. She reminded him of his dear friend from years ago and he had to fight back some painful memories.

However that wasn't the only thing that put him on edge, the woman in front of him had the grace of a warrior that had been born and bred for battle. Reminded him of the guy he hated whom he called a battle crazed fool.

The lavenderette looked at him and the three other women in front of her. To the casual observer she was just looking at them, but to Renato he knew that she was trying to access whether they were a potential threat.

_'She's definitely like Yahan, Kochou and Akitsu but on a whole other level. She's definitely killed a lot more people than she shows.'_

The woman herself knew who the other three were though she was surprised at Akitsu but managed to keep those hidden. It was the hooded man in that trench coat that looked like it had been through a blender that caught her attention more. She looked into his black eyes that were only visible in the shadow of his hood and she could tell that he was someone who had spilled more blood than any human though she doubt that he was even human himself.

_'This man...he's spilled so much blood than any human I've met though I sense that he's more than human.'_

The moment lasted for a few seconds before she gave them a warm smile. "Hello, can I help you four?"

"Yes. I saw the advert over there that mentioned that your place had vacancies, and we're here looking to become residents here." Renato spoke.

"I see. It's true that we're offering housing here. The monthly fee is 500 yen per room." The lavenderette said.

"That's a good deal for us." Renato said. It looks like this was a place to lay low in especially since MBI chose to avoid this area like the plague.

"However I must ask, are you four in any kind of trouble that I should know of?" The lavenderette asked once more.

"None as far as I'm concerned." Renato said as he turned to his sekirei.

"Nope no trouble." Yahan said.

"We've done nothing wrong." Kochou said.

"Ah, nothing wrong." Akitsu said.

"Like we all said, we're not in any kind of trouble." Renato continued, "Would that be an issue if we were?"

"Oh no, not at all." The woman replied with a kind smile, "My husband believed in never turning a person away. I just needed to know as a simple precaution."

"He sounds like a good man. Is he the owner of this place?"

"No, he was but my husband died a few years ago." The woman answered with a sad smile on her face.

Renato felt his heart ache at that. He was mad at himself for bringing up a sad memory for someone. Apparently the woman noticed this and assured him. "It's alright, it's not like you could have known, so please, don't beat yourself up over it."

"Alright. I'll do that." Renato said.

The woman's personality brightened as she opened the door and led the four into the house. "I am the landlady, Asama Miya. And you are?"

"Agba Renato."

"Well then Renato, we currently have two rooms available on the first and second floor though I'd prefer it if you stayed in one and your four ladies stayed in the another room."

"Why can't we be in the same room as Renato-sama?" Yahan complained.

Miya giggled, hiding her smile behind her hand, as a scary hanya mask appeared over her shoulder. "Lewd acts are prohibited in Maison Izumo. It wouldn't do for you three to share a room with him."

The three sekirei hid behind their ashikabi, all terrified of the scary abomination they were seeing. Renato however was unfazed by it as he stared at Miya with a blank look.

"Can you please not scare my ladies, Miya?"

The dark aura and the mask disappeared quickly as Miya looked at Renato, stunned by the fact that he was unfazed by the mask or the dark aura she had projected. Renato saw this and he moved on to what was in order. "So can you show us to our room, Miya? I'm responsible for my ladies here and I'll make sure there are no lewd acts like you mentioned."

Miya stared at his face to see whether he was lying. The stone cold blank look in Renato's eyes easily told her that he wasn't lying to her but she still wasn't going to trust him so easily. "Ara. Aren't you a responsible one? However I'll still stick to what I said."

"You're the boss. Your rules." Renato said, not wanting to argue with her as Miya led them to the rooms on the first floor.

After showing them their rooms and the inn itself, Renato asked his sekirei to stay in their room and relax while he finalized the arrangements with the landlady. They hesitantly obeyed. He went to find Miya who was in the living room/dining room enjoying some tea.

"So what do you think?" Miya asked.

"Simple and nice. I definitely like this place, it makes me feel more at home." Renato replied.

"So how do you intend to pay for the rent?" Miya asked.

"I can cover that and even more." Renato said, as he brought out a large brown envelope from his coat, "Here's 500,000 yen up front then."

Miya's eyes went wide as dinner plates after seeing the amount he had. She took the envelope and counted it just to be sure. After she confirmed that they were accurate she nodded and turned to look at him. "Well thank you very much Agba-san."

"Call me Renato instead, Miya." Renato corrected.

"Okay then, Renato." Miya said with a smile on her face, "I'd like to inform you of another rule here in Maison Izumo: No violence is allowed here."

"That's fine with me since I'd rather avoid violence to begin with." Renato said. That was true as he preferred to just use stealth and avoid the use of unnecessary violence unless as a last resort.

"If I may ask Renato, why do you still have the hood on indoors?" Miya asked curiously, "Are you sure you are not in trouble?"

"I am sure, Miya." Renato answered, "It's just better for me and those around me that I don't reveal my face to anyone. Call it paranoia I acquired."

"Okay if you say so Renato."

"Yo Miya. Do we have guests?" came from the door before it opened to reveal a voluptuous brunette with dark brown hair, a pony tail on the left side while the rest fell behind her back and brown eyes. She was only wearing underwear and a frilly pink shirt that showed off a lot of cleavage much to Renato's displeasure.

"Uzume, how many times have I told you to not come out of your room dressed like that?" Miya asked.

"At least I'm in panties now." The now known Uzume countered like she didn't care who saw her.

"Please dress up properly. Have you no modesty?" Renato stated while looking away from her.

"Don't worry, Renato. Uzume has modesty, right?" Miya said in a sickly sweet voice as the familiar dark aura and hanya mask appeared again.

"Uwah! Y-y-yeah! Y-yes I-I-I do! I-I-I'll go c-c-change right away!" Uzume said as she ran out of the room, mostly out of fear of the landlady.

"Are my housemates like her or she's the only one that's like that?" Renato asked.

"No. It's just Uzume...she's a little...indecent." Miya said.

"Good. At least it's just her. I've had my share of debauchery to last a lifetime and I don't need anymore." Renato said. Bad memories of a certain crazy couple he knew came back to haunt him which he quickly got rid of. They really scarred him for life.

"Did Uzume do something perverted again?" said a male that came into view. Renato turned to see a white haired man who looked more female than male, wearing a white collared shirt and black slacks looking into the room at him and Miya.

"Yes Kagari, she did but I sent her back in to dress up properly." Miya answered.

"Kagari's your name? Well I'm Renato and I'm one of your new housemates. Nice to make your acquaintance." Renato said.

"Oh, nice to meet you too." Kagari replied, "Though why the trench coat? It's seen much better days."

"Sorry. This was my first coat I've ever worn and I took a liking to it and always had it with me." Renato said sheepishly before he realized something, "Speaking of which, Miya, can you tell my three ladies that I'll be out for a while? I'm just going to buy some things for my room and theirs. I won't be long."

"Of course I'll tell them." Miya said.

"Thank you very much Miya. I'll see you all later." Renato said as he left the room for the front door and left the building.

"Miya. Don't you find that man suspicious?" Kagari asked the landlady.

"He definitely has his own secrets and will not tell us unless he wants to. He's also a good man who'd rather enjoy a peaceful life than resort to violence which I can see that he's been exposed to in the past." Miya said, "I just hope he doesn't end up bringing any of it back to this place."

* * *

**End of Chapter 4.**

**Akitsu's been winged and MBI's in pandemonium since they can't identify her ashikabi.**

**Minaka's losing it and he plans to turn up the heat to find him.**

**Renato and his sekirei move into Maison Izumo. **

**Renato knows Miya's a sekirei like his own but more powerful and Miya knows that he's more than human.**

**What else does Shinto Teito have for the Ghost Ashikabi?**


	5. Close call

**Ghost Ashikabi**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Sekirei anime.**

**Chapter 5: Close Call**

* * *

It was evening when Renato left Izumo inn after he arrived and got rooms for himself and his three sekirei. Since their rooms didn't have much in them he decided that he'd get some furniture and items to add to the homely atmosphere of the rooms. Plus he also needed to use his trip out as a chance to think about the occupants of the inn and the place in general.

_'That inn would do as a good place to lay low and stay out of MBI's sight. It's also a plus that MBI and other jackasses don't screw around there. Now the occupants: That Uzume is quite the live wire and a bit of an exhibitionist. That Kagari fellow, it seems like he's in a constant state of flux and he seems more of a woman than a guy. Maybe that's me getting ahead of myself. That landlady seems to enjoy tormenting her tenants with that aura of hers and her projection of her murderous intent as a hanya mask must explain why she's called the Hanya of the North. But that's not what worries me. She's more than what she presents herself to be and could tell that she was trying to get a read on me with those eyes of hers. Does she really think that putting us in separate rooms would work? My sekirei won't want to be separated from me. Hell back at the last safe house they had rooms but they refused to not sleep in them!'_

Renato sighed and put an end to his thoughts. It can get too exhausting trying to think too much about things except when he's doing proper recon. Either way he continued his parkour trip across rooftops to downtown. After landing at the edges of Downtown Shinto Teito, Renato picked a dark alley to go in and change into his disguise. He came out of the alley in a leather jacket with a grey hood, white dress shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers. With the hood over his head he proceeded to make his way to the nearest furniture store he could find. However he was being trailed by someone but unknown to whoever it was that was following him, he was smirking.

_'Nice try whoever you are. Let's see who you are.'_

He continued his pace as he lured his new stalker to a place where he could see who they were. Following him was a young lady who had light brown hair with blue ribbons woven in and grey eyes. She wore a tight, thigh length white gown, black stockings and long black gloves as well as a black cloth around her neck. If Renato had looked back at this woman he'd be face palming and faulting at the giant hammer she was carrying. Renato sensed that it was a Sekirei that was following him and had some guesses in his mind.

_'Either she's reacting to me right now, one of that asshole Higa's sekirei or she's a member of that Discipline Squad Kochou warned me about. Though I'm leaning towards the first 'cos she's not strong enough to be a Discipline Squad member nor has MBI or Higa found me. One way to be sure is that I meet her somewhere secure.'_

While he kept going the sekirei following too was in her own thoughts. She had seen her ashikabi in her dreams and at first was on her way to the North where he was after searching for days since he was appearing and disappearing at random as if he didn't want to be found. Then in a stroke of luck she just managed to sense him moving past her on the rooftops and then she saw him coming out of an alley.

_'Finally Ashikabi-sama. There you are. Please no more running around.'_

Unknown to her but not to Renato someone had begun following them after they'd moved past another block. Renato did not like this guy that was tailing them. He first seemed to be following the woman behind him and now he sensed that he was now going after him too. Renato felt that this guy was a punk, a good-for-nothing thug looking to try something. Renato saw an alley and decided to lure them both in as he went inside and hid in the darkness of it. The young lady following him went in and walked by him as she went deeper into the alley and so did the punk who also walked by him and Renato got a good look at him. It was a young man with short brown hair and black eyes. he wore a dark green hoody, with the hood down, pale gray pants and black shoes.

The young lady reached a dead end and found out that her ashikabi was nowhere to be found. She turned around to see the brutish thug in front of her.

"Hey bitch, what's someone like you doing alone in a place like this? And what's with the hammer?" he asked, "You a cosplayer or something?"

She saw the cocky sneer on his face and the look in his eyes...she did not like them one bit.

"You're kinda hot." he said as he touched her face, "You should be my girl."

"...what?"

"I wasn't asking." he said as he pulled her closer to him, "You will be my girl!"

Renato was pissed off at this guy. This waste of space was going to force himself on his new sekirei or more like force wing and steal her from him. He went out of the shadows and moved behind him in a flash and grabbed him from the back with one arm grabbing the punk's arm, slit his throat with a blade he had drawn out from his hidden gauntlets, in one fluid action and tossed the punk away while he was choking on his own blood. He flicked the blood off of his blade and turned to look at the punk who managed to get one last look at him.

**"Go to hell you bastard and may no one remember your name!" **Renato said with spite as he sheathed his blade back into his gauntlet and the punk known as Junichi Tanigawa left the world...and all of Shinto Teito became a better place for it.

The young lady froze, her blood turning ice in her veins but she stood her ground. This was the man she was looking for and she had just seen him save her from being force winged by that punk but the way he did it was so cold blooded that it scared her. She looked into the man's face that was hidden by the darkness of his grey hood but could only see his black eyes that had rage in them. Then those eyes turned on her and this time the rage was gone.

"Are you alright young one?" Renato asked.

"Yes I am. Thank you for helping me." she replied.

"You're welcome. Filth like him are better off dead." he said, "By the way, I know you are a sekirei and let me guess you are reacting."

Then the lady jumped on Renato and caused them both to fall and end up in a compromising position with warm lips pressed against his own. Next was the light show of brilliant blue wings sprouting from her back like a lotus flower. Renato was glad that they were the only ones in the alley. After the wings faded the lady removed her lips from Renato and stood up as she said, "Number 84, Yashima. My ashikabi-sama."

"Happy now. Good. Let's get the hell outta here." Renato said as he quickly got up and grabbed her hand.

"Yes. Where are we going?" Yashima asked.

"To a furniture store to look for furniture for my room at an inn in the North and also I don't want to be here when MBI shows up."

"Okay." Yashima said since she did not want to argue with him as she felt his paranoia through the bond between them.

The two of them left the alley and walked towards the shopping district.

At MBI once more pandemonium was going on as once again the "Ghost Ashikabi" had winged another one and Takami and Minaka were getting sick and tired of their inability to find this person. The Discipline Squad was also on the lookout for this mystery person and so far had no luck finding him. However they had a lucky break as they were able to pinpoint where the "Ghost Ashikabi" had winged #84 Yashima.

Renato and Yashima entered the shopping district but before they went any further, Renato activated a device hidden in his jacket. It was one of his favorite devices for staying out of the sight of those who used electronics surveillance devices. It basically erased any trace of him from their recordings. Right now they'd be able to see just Yashima alone and not him at all. However there was the problem of Yashima and her giant hammer drawing attention to them. He just ignored the stares of those people as they continued walking around hoping they'd think she was just some cosplayer, with her boyfriend.

"Um...Ashikabi-sama?" Yashima asked as they entered a furniture store.

"What is it Yashima?" Renato asked.

"Um...Why are you keeping your face hidden behind the hood?"

"Personal reasons. One that I'd rather not tell to anyone."

"Doesn't it...make you...suspicious?"

"No. If I'm minding my own business I see no reason why anyone should be suspicious of me. Can we just leave it at that Yashima?"

"Oh, okay."

"Thank you."

Renato was able to buy a few tables, chairs and shelves, a desk and a small couch. Yashima had offered to pay with an MBI card but he declined and paid with cash instead. Yashima wanted to carry the load but once more Renato declined though he appreciated her eagerness to be useful to him. Better yet he had a better idea of how to carry all these things without burdening either of them but not in front of many people. When they left the shopping district Renato and Yashima went to the parking lot, after seeing it was empty he put the boxes of furniture down and took out another device.

"Yashima, I'm going to show you something that I haven't shown others. Can I trust you to keep it a secret?"

Yashima was taken back. Others? What others? Why is he asking if he could trust her? If he wants to see if she can be loyal to him then she's more than happy to prove it.

"Yes ashikabi-sama. As your sekirei I will keep your secret!"

Renato looked into her eyes trying to see if she was lying. Yashima felt a chill go down her spine. Those eyes of his made her feel like she was staring down the eyes of a judge, jury and executioner in one go, looking into her soul to see if she was guilty or not before cleaving her in two. She managed to stand her ground and stared back at him before he dropped the gaze.

"Okay. I can trust you a little." Renato spoke as he pointed his device that looked like a cell phone at the boxes of furniture in front of them. Suddenly out of the blue, a black hole appeared and engulfed the boxes before vanishing as fast as it arrived and so were the boxes. Yashima looked at the spot were the boxes were then at the device, then her ashikabi. Her mind was jumbled up and Renato decided to give her the basics.

"Advanced Matter Storage. Call it a way to store objects without having to worry about being burdened by the weight." Renato explained.

"Oh, I see. Okay then, what now?" Yashima spoke.

"We're going back to where I am staying." Renato said, "I'll be going by parkour on the rooftops."

"Parkour?" Yashima asked in confusion.

"Basically like how you sekirei leap from building to building."

"Oh! I see but are you sure about that? Can you keep up with me?"

"Do not worry about me. I can handle myself. Shall we be going?"

Renato sprinted towards the building across the parking lot. He jumped on the pipe, and quickly climbed up it before leaping to another one, climbed it and then jumped to the ledge of the building and pulled himself up. Yashima was amazed by this man's athleticism and acrobatics he used to get up that building. When she saw her ashikabi motion to her to come she followed after him and scaled the building in one jump and met him on top.

"O-okay?! Yashima, are you sure you can move around with that hammer of yours?" Renato asked while looking at her weapon.

"Yes I can, though it does feel a little troubling to be moving about with it." Yashima answered, "Will there be a problem?"

"Uh, no. If you can carry it with you then it's fine. Let's go."

Both Renato and Yashima traversed the rooftops making their way back north to Maison Izumo. The trip was going on well and Yashima was once more amazed at how her ashikabi was able to move and jump from rooftop to rooftop with his parkour and without missing a step. Renato was more impressed at how Yashima was able to move around without that hammer slowing her down. It was getting dark and as they were about to reach the borders to the North, Renato detected someone fast approaching them with a large amount of blood lust, putting him on edge. Yashima noticed her ashikabi's anxiety through the bond and then the insane blood lust which she knew too well and she became horrified.

"I take it that you know who's catching up to us." Renato asked after sensing her horror.

"It's her! The Black Sekirei! The one who leads the Discipline Squad. We have to get away beforeshefindsusandkillsus." Yashima said rushing at the last bit.

Renato grabbed her by her waist getting an eep from Yashima and he jumped with her into the darkness of the building. A few seconds after they vanished a woman clad in black clothing with a long grey haori upon over her shoulders. She also had a long curved sword, much longer than what Renato used earlier on that thug, called a nodachi in her hands. She was just standing there looking around for the two people she was after. One of them she knew was #84 Yashima. The hooded man with her was who someone she had no idea of but she sensed that he was different than the other humans. He also reminded her of the one who trained her back on Kamikura Island a long time ago. After looking around the top of the building she was on for a while, she hissed in frustration at losing her prey.

_'Damn it! They both vanished from my sight. He may be the ashikabi that's been driving Minaka insane. He's definitely an interesting one. He reminds of me of my teacher from those years back.' _The Black Sekirei thought with a scowl on her face. Then a devilish grin came on her face.

_'So he wants to play "catch me if you can" huh? No problem. I'll play! Besides you're definitely a mystery that I'd like to unravel myself. No need for Minaka to know that. I do hope that we cross paths again.'_

She sheathed her sword and launched high into the sky, out of view. Later Renato and Yashima came out of the shadow of the building, Renato clinging under the lip of the roof, holding on to Yashima. Then in one fluid motion he flipped the both of them back to the rooftop.

"How did you do that? How did you manage to keep us hidden from her?" Yashima asked in amazement. The Black Sekirei was like a predator that one could not hope to escape from due to her highly trained senses she used to detect sekirei she tried to hunt for.

"I'm a master of stealth and subterfuge." Renato answered, "I am very good at staying hidden from anyone's senses or even the best security measures. So not even the Black Sekirei can find me." _'I should have called Kochou to disable their surveillance from detecting me when I winged Yashima. That nearly cost me.' _

"Let's go home Yashima." Renato said.

"Yes ashikabi-sama." Yashima said.

"You can call me Renato. That's my name."

"Okay, Renato-sama."

_'Why should I even bother telling her off?' _

Renato and Yashima made it back to Maison Izumo and it was dark outside. He knocked on the door and Miya answered the door.

"Welcome back Renato, and right on time for dinner."

"Thank you Miya. It's good to be back home."

"It seems you brought another guest?" Miya looked at Yashima.

"She's Yashima. I save her from some random thug in the city. And now she's with me." Renato answered.

"Arara...are you letting your beastly urges get the best of you?" Miya said as she hid her mouth with her arm.

"If you're implying that I'm a molester or rapist then just end that train of thought there." Renato said bluntly, "Besides can we come in, we'd just finished having a close call with someone called the Black Sekirei and she's someone I don't want to to be around."

Miya's face grew serious when he mentioned the Black Sekirei which Renato noticed as he and Yashima went inside and Miya closed the door.

"Yashima can you go join the others in the dining room? I need to talk to Renato here." Miya said.

"Alright. I see you at the table Renato-sama." Yashima happily said as she walked off. After she was out of view Renato got straight to the point.

"Let me guess. You know the Black Sekirei and have some kind of bad blood between you two."

"Yes, I do. She's the blood thirsty dog of MBI, her name is Karasuba. You two actually met her and got away unscathed?" Few had ever met and escaped from Karasuba, not to mention contend with her. Yet Renato and Yashima were here safe and sound.

"Yes we did. We avoided a confrontation with her by staying out of sight. I'd rather not go around looking for fights with everyone I meet. I prefer to be more subtle."

Renato walked past Miya to the dining room. He was tired with all the movement he'd undertaken for today and just wanted to eat, get the furniture organized and sleep. When he got there he saw his three sekirei: Yahan, Kochou, and Akitsu, and they are glaring at Yashima, scaring her. There was also Kagari and Uzume and two new people he knew instantly. One of them was that bubbly girl in the shrine maiden costume and skirt and gloves and the other the young man she fell on that day he helped them by knocking out the lightning twins.

"Looks like we have new guests. Name's Renato Agba." Renato spoke getting the attention of everyone including his first three sekirei who rushed at him and all hugged him tight.

"Renato-sama! You're back!"

"Yeah I am. I just went shopping for a while. Have you met Yashima? Please treat her well since she's now one of us now."

"Ah...another one." Akitsu said.

"Wow bro! You move fast!" Uzume said, "You're one smooth operator."

"Please end that line of thought Uzume." Renato said.

"Arara...what did I say about lewd acts in Izumo inn?" Next followed were three consecutive impacts from a ladle and three thuds. Renato looked at his three sekirei, flat lined and with lumps on the back of their heads and then Miya who had a ladle in her hand.

"Miya. They were just worried about me. No need to be violent." Renato complained.

"So you're an ashikabi?" The young man said, "My name's Sahashi Minato. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Minato and you're an ashikabi too."

"Yes...funny enough."

"My name's Musubi! And I'm Minato's sekirei, nice to meet you!" The bubbly shrine maiden informed.

"Hello to you too Musubi."

"Well can we all have dinner and talk later." Kagari said.

"Yes we will. C'mon you three. Get up and let's eat." Renato said to them.

"Yes Renato-sama!" His three sekirei said as they all quickly got up like nothing happened earlier.

"Arara. Looks like Maison Izumo's going to become more lively." Miya muttered to herself as they all got to their seats and proceeded to have their dinner.

* * *

**End of Chapter 5.**

**Yashima has joined Renato's flock after executing Junichi's sorry ass.**

**Renato has a device to assist with his stealth and a Advanced Matter Storage for storing items he doesn't intend to carry.**

**Renato had a close call with Karasuba and had to use his stealth abilities to stay out of sight. ****His other three sekirei are not going to like it when they hear about it.**

**Renato meets Minato and Musubi though it's brief.**


	6. Whatever comes next

**Ghost Ashikabi**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Sekirei anime.**

**Chapter 6: Whatever comes next**

* * *

After their dinner Renato went to his room and secretly used his Advanced Matter Storage to bring out the boxes of furniture, then he proceeded to arrange them around his room. When he was done his four sekireis walked into the room. Yashima had a frightened expression on her face while Yahan and Kochou had a grim expression of their faces. Akitsu's face was indifferent though Renato could sense that she wasn't happy like the others. He then pieced together what had occurred and sighed.

"Let me guess, Yashima told you about what happened." Renato said.

"Yes she did and as you can see we're not happy about. Do you realize how worried sick you made us?" Yahan yelled, "Worse Karasuba nearly found you!"

"Nearly still doesn't mean she did. I'm here because she didn't find me anyways." Renato countered.

"True, but your killing of a random person, even if he was a punk is going to draw attention to you!" Kochou retorted, "Also your winging of Yashima nearly blew your cover too. At least you should have asked me to disable their satellites while you were out. I warned you about MBI increasing their intensity of their search for you and sending in the Discipline Squad after you and like Yahan said you nearly got caught by Karasuba!"

"I apologize for not asking you to disable MBI's surveillance and it nearly cost me. But you forget that I am good at not being found. So no need to be worried." Renato said.

"No need to be worried? You're our ashikabi and you were out there by yourself! Of course we'll be worried!" Yahan shouted, startling Renato, "What if MBI, Higa's people, Mikogami's sekirei or other ashikabis found you?! What if Karasuba killed you? We won't have known until we died too."

"She's right. If you died then we'll all die too since you are connected to us." Kochou said.

Renato saw the tears coming from Yahan, Kochou and even Akitsu's eyes as the three of them hugged him.

"You...you're important to us. Please don't do that again." Akitsu whispered to him.

Renato felt their worry and sadness through the bond. He began to feel horrible for getting a bit reckless and going out without them.

"I'm very sorry, ladies..." He apologized, "...for my recklessness and for worrying you all."

"We forgive you Renato-sama." Yahan said.

"Yes, forgiven." Akitsu said.

"Apology accepted." Kochou said, "Just make sure at least one of us is with you next time you want to go anywhere, okay?"

"Of course." Renato answered, "Yashima you've been standing there for a while."

"Uh...I didn't want to interrupt you four and I feel that I'm partly at fault for..."

"Don't bother to finish because it's not your fault Yashima. Now can we go to bed? I'm tired from all the activity for today."

"Yes, Renato-sama!" All four sekirei said together.

Renatoe sweat dropped at this. _'Seriously can they quit it!?'_

In the night while he was sleeping Renato's senses were still on alert for anything unusual going on in the inn. While the place is safe and out of surveillance range of MBI, he'd still felt like he was being watched by someone in the inn, someone that is hiding somewhere in the inn. He already had a suspicion of where the person was but that was for another time. Right now his ears had picked up a conversation that was beginning from above him, on the roof of the inn.

"Hello Takami what can I do for you?"

_"Sorry to bother you about this Homura, but I need you to be on the lookout for someone."_

"Sure I can do that. Who is it that you need me to be on the lookout for?"

_'A person who's been a ghost to MBI so far. He's an unknown variable to the Sekirei plan that just came up from nowhere."_

"Really? You have nothing on him?"

_"Absolutely nothing. Minaka's called him "The Ghost Ashikabi" and for good reason. We've been trying to find him and gather information on him, so far we've found nothing. No trace of him. No records. Nothing!"_

"So he's an elusive one and a ghost?"

"_Yes very elusive indeed. Minaka's even got the Discipline Squad looking for him and even they can't find him. Karasuba was the closest to finding him after his latest winging and she says that he literally disappeared out of existence with his sekirei. Hell she couldn't sense either of them after."_

"I see. So who has he winged?"

That got Renato's attention immediately and was immediately gone from his room.

_"#22 Kochou, #57 Yahan, just recently #84 Yashima and ridiculously enough, he winged Akitsu."_

"You're joking! He winged the scrapped number?!...Takami I think I may have an idea wh-"

Kagari was interrupted by a cold blade pressed against his throat. Whoever had him at knife point was behind him and worse he hadn't sensed him at all. This of course scared him.

_"Homura? Homura, why did _ _you stop? You said that you have an idea? What about?"_

"Nothing Takumi. I thought I knew something but I somehow forgot whatever it was. Sorry."

_"No problem Homura. Anyways can you keep a lookout for this Ghost Ashikabi?"_

"Sure I can. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for him."

_"That's all I can ask for."_

Kagari hurriedly hung up his cell phone. He would have sighed if not for the blade pressed against his throat, so he had to hold it back for now.

"Kagari or may I say Homura? I know that you're a sekirei. Who were you talking to in MBI?" A deep voice spoke, "Choose your words carefully or they'll be your last."

"Her name is Takami Sahashi. She's Minaka's second in command at MBI and one of the head tuners of sekirei." Homura wisely answered.

"So you're her spy huh? And you were about to expose me to her and eventually that lunatic Minaka? How unfortunate..."

"W-wait! Are you the Ghost Ashikabi...Renato Agba?" Homura asked. Blade was pressing deeper against his skin about to draw blood.

"What's it to you Homura? Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand." Renato sneered.

"Because if you do, a lot of unwinged sekirei will get forcefully winged." Homura stated, "I'm #6 Homura the Flame sekirei and the Sekirei Guardian. Takami asked me to do that so as to ensure that sekirei get winged by their rightful ashikabi."

Renato tried to sense if Homura was lying. It looked like he was telling the truth so he removed his blade from Homura's throat. Homura turned around and could barely see anything in the darkness of the night except his blue eyes.

"She's Minato's mother. That explains a lot of things. So does Takami actually support that lunatic's bullshit game?"

"Yes she's that boy's mother and she's not happy that he's mixed up in the sick game. And no she doesn't support the sekirei plan. She only took the position to be his second in command to keep that lunatic from going too far. Hell she'd love to kill him herself because of this sick game but she can't."

"Maybe she can't but I can do that easily."

"I have no doubt about that since you can easily sneak up on me and even evade Karasuba."

"That's child's play for me. I doubt that sneaking into MBI and killing Minaka would be close to difficult."

"Speaking of which why didn't you kill me right here when you had the chance to? I saw you execute that punk that tried to force wing Yashima and you didn't even think twice."

"Homura, the only reason I didn't kill you instantly was because of Miya's trust in you. And because of that I want to trust you too but how can I be convinced that you won't betray that trust?"

"Your secret's safe with me but can I trust you to do the same?"

"I have so many secrets that I'm still keeping for others and I'm more than happy to take them to my grave. So that includes you and the other sekirei too."

"Okay. I'll not reveal your identity to Takami."

"Can you arrange a meeting with her for me? I'd like to get her own opinion."

"I see. Well thanks for the chat. but I have to go to work now."

"I know that you have a night job. I'll let you go now. Be safe out there Homura."

All Homura saw was Renato take a step back and then vanish right in front of his eyes. It took him a few minutes to recover from such a feat by a human or something for than a human and finally let out the sigh he'd been holding for a while.

_'Takami's right. He's a ghost.'_

The next morning Renato woke up feeling very groggy and weighed down by something or someone. When he tried to rub the sleep out his eyes, he realized that he couldn't even move his arms because someone was on it. He somehow focused his vision and froze on the spot. He found himself in what he would call a clusterfuck of a bind.

On top of him was Yahan sleeping on him, her head on his chest, and in the nude! He could feel that his morning wood was rigid within his trousers and had to use every bit of willpower to not lose it. On his left side sleeping close to him in a violet night gown and without her glasses on was Kochou. On his right was the cold Akitsu wearing only a long sleeved shirt that belonged to him and no panties...Then close by next to his legs was Yashima whom he couldn't see but could tell was sleeping next to his leg. One thing they had in common was that they were quite possessive of Renato based on their vice-like grips on him.

No matter. Renato knew that he had to get out of this mess before Miya showed up and castrated him or worse for this bind of his. So he carefully he slipped his arms out from Kochou and Akitsu's grips, then he loosened Yahan's grip on him and carefully slipped out from under her and slipped his leg out of Yashima's grip. After breathing a sigh of relief he made his way to the door of his room, only to hear the sounds of his sekirei groaning and yawning. It seemed like they noticed that their ashikabi was no longer in their hold but they were also not really morning people either. Renato used that moment to silently leave the room.

Renato walked down the hallway till he reached the door to the backyard and went through it. He looked around and saw it was a good place for some training. He first began to do some Silat drills. Then he found a pair of sticks lying around in the garden and then picked them up and began to practice his Escrima techniques. All the while knowing someone was spectating.

Miya had woken up early in the morning as usual. She went downstairs to handle the usual early morning chores but then found out that she wasn't the only one up. She found out that another person was up early and was in the backyard. She went to check and found herself captivated by the sight in front of her.

The 6'2" man in front of her had white hair, with black streaks in it and a ponytail that reached his lower back. His skin was brown and he had black eyes. He was wearing a skin tight shirt, under a grey hoodie and trousers that reached just below the knee. He was practicing some martial arts motions she hadn't seen before and then going through fluid, complex motions with a pair of sticks. What caught her attention though was that he looked like her old teacher that trained her a long time ago and she thought she was looking at him again. She was brought out of her thoughts when the man stopped and put the hood on.

"Good morning, Miya. Did you enjoy the demonstration?" The man asked in a very familiar voice.

"Renato? I never knew you were a morning person." Miya asked in disbelief. She was also surprised that Renato detected her even though she was quiet with her movements.

"Yes, I am when I'm in the mood, and I see that you're a morning person too."

"Yes I am. I come here early in the morning to practice my swordsmanship." Miya replied, "I never thought of you to be a morning person too."

"You know the way of the sword. That's impressive in this time and age." Renato complimented.

"Thank you. And from your display I can see that you're experienced in combat yourself even though you say you prefer to not go around picking fights." Miya said.

"Yes I am. Those styles I used are Silat, an Indonesian martial arts style and escrima, a hybrid Filipino Martial arts style that emphasizes weapon based combat with sticks, bladed weapons like knives and even includes unarmed combat. I may be the type that avoids unnecessary fights it doesn't mean that I shouldn't be able to defend myself when I do end up in an avoidable one." Renato explained.

"I see. I understand."

"Anyways do you need help with anything?"

"Not much. I'm about to prepare breakfast."

"How about I help you with breakfast?"

"That's kind of you. Thank you for the offer but how about you help wake up the others instead while I prepare the baths?"

"Okay...I can do that."

"Thank you."

Renato went upstairs first to wake up Minato, Musubi and Uzume. He had no problem waking up the kid, his sekireis got up once Minato woke up and just as Renato left their room. Uzume though, was another issue as the busty brunette tried to tease and seduce him when he did so but he managed to resist those advances and just left the room. He didn't bother to wake Kagari up because of his night job that made him tired after so he left him to sleep. Going back down to his room, he found his four sekireis up and awake and ready to jump him!

"Morning ladies and don't even think about trying to jump me." Renato deadpanned.

"AAWWWW!" They all whined in sync.

"No need to feel down. I'll be spending time with you all today but first you'll need to have a bath."

"Do you want to join us Renato-sama?" Yashima asked, a hopeful smile on her face.

"Not this time." Renato replied, causing his four sekireis to look down in disappointment, "I was hoping you four can use this time to bond with each other more. You four are basically like sisters now."

"Ah...sisters." Akitsu spoke up.

"Sure. We can handle some alone time with ourselves." Yahan added.

"Yes we will, as long as you don't run off by yourself like yesterday." Kochou warned.

"Hahahaha! I won't run off this time." Renato replied, "Now get going to the bathroom before Miya comes in and catches you four in here."

That was all it took for them to rush out of the room since they did not want to be subjected to the scary hanya like they called her. Well Yashima hadn't been subjected to it yet but she left just the same since she saw the other three run off.

Renato smiled one of his few sincere smiles under his hood that he hadn't done in years. Right now he wanted those four to get used to each other and he to think about his plans for the Minaka's sick sekirei plan. He went back out to the backyard where he met Minato standing near a tree, spaced out.

"Morning Minato." he called out. Minato turned around to see the hooded man walking up to him.

"Ah, good morning Renato-san." Minato replied.

"You seem to have spaced out there. Is something on your mind?" Renato asked.

"Oh! Yes, I was thinking about something...speaking of which can I ask you something Renato-san?"

"Go ahead."

"Have you had any strange dreams at all?"

"We've all had strange dreams Minato."

"No not that...I had a strange dream about a little girl-"

"What are you, a lolicon?"

"GAH! No, that's not what I meant!"

"I was just joking with you. Go on."

"As I was saying, I had a strange dream about a little girl who was inside some kind of forest calling for help last night."

_'So that girl is a sekirei reacting to him?' _Renato thought as he remembered what Kochou told him about reacting sekirei using dreams to get in contact with their chosen ashikabis when they are out of reach. If Minato here had a dream involving her then that girl was reacting to him trying to get him to come find her.

"Minato. That girl calling for your help in your dream is a sekirei reacting to you." Renato said.

"Huh? Really?" Minato asked.

"Yes. I advice you to find out where she is and wing her."

"Okay..."

"By the way Minato, man up for once."

"What?!"

Before Renato could say anymore he was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering from one of the windows of the inn. Him and Minato looked up to see Uzume flying out in nothing more than her towel. She flipped and landed with the grace of a fighter on the ground, making Minato look in awe while Renato just stared indifferently.

Uzume noticed them looking at her but she turned her attention to Minato and gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness. I think I already know the answer but I just have to ask. Are you Musubi's Ashikabi?"

"Yeah?" Minato replied in surprise while Renato just looked on.

"I take it she's the reason you're jumping out of the window in nothing more then a towel right?" Renato asked while he kept his eyes on her face and not on her well endowed body. He knew she is a sekirei already.

"Yeah, listen, I don't want to fight anyone and that includes her." Uzume ran to Minato's side, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him, her large bust pressing into his back. "Can you please make her stop?"

Minato was just standing there muttering incoherently while Renato face palmed at the scene in front of him.

_'Kid really needs to man up already.'_

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard an excitable voice saying, "Hey! You let go of Minato-Sama right now!" The three looked up to see Musubi jump out of the window and land on the ground a few feet from them. Uzume hid herself behind Minato who became stiff as a statue most likely because of Musubi's bust while Renato just looked on. Musubi then suddenly lunged at them trying to punch Uzume who just hid her face behind Minato forcing Renato to step in and catch Musubi's punch with his hand.

"Seriously Musubi! You don't have to go around picking fights with everyone." Renato sighed while he held the bridge of his nose trying to stave off the incoming migraine. He didn't fail to notice the surprise in the other three people. They were shocked that Renato caught Musubi's attack with his hand and wasn't sent flying nor did he have a broken hand or none at all. Renato also noticed his sekirei had seen the display too and only didn't react because they saw that he was fine.

"Wow! Renato-san's very strong." Musubi said with stars in her eyes.

"No kidding! Bro, you just stopped an attack that should be sending you flying." Uzume added, also in surprise.

"It's just a punch. No big deal." Renato said bluntly.

"Just a punch? Bro, an attack like that from Musubi should have sent you flying with a broken hand or none at all."

"I've been punched by someone much stronger than Musubi here. And he's not as strong as I am."

"Really?! Can you introduce Musubi to this person?" Musubi asked in excitement.

"No."

"Why not?" Minato managed to ask.

"Because he's someone I wouldn't want to leave Musubi with." Renato said.

Next thing he knew he heard two impacts and two thuds. He turned to see Miya with her ladle and her smile.

"Miya do you have to be so violent?"

"Ufufufu...Whatever do you mean Renato?" Miya said while hiding her smile with her hand and a certain dark aura emanated from her freaking out Minato and soon enough Musubi and Uzume were hiding behind him.

"I mean that you don't always have to crack 'em on their heads to get the message across and by the way your aura still isn't scaring me." Renato deadpanned.

Everyone else was shocked at Renato while he himself just ignored them and just went indoors as he said, "By the way, Uzume and Musubi, get inside and get dressed, Minato and Miya quit gawking and get inside. And also tell the one who's been spying on me to reveal herself to me before **I reveal myself to her.**"

Meanwhile in a secluded area sitting in front of multiple screens, a certain person with glasses was sweating and shivering in fear while looking around the room trying to be sure that no one else was in there with them.

In the MBI Tower, Minaka was not in a good mood. Why? A new bane to his existence and an unknown player to the Sekirei plan is the reason. The Ghost Ashikabi has been living up to his nickname. None of their surveillance and tracking systems have been able to pinpoint this individual. Even the police and the Discipline Squad has been unable to catch him. He'd thought they'd caught a break when Yashima got winged by the unknown player and still he slipped through their fingers as he had escaped Karasuba by literally disappearing from her sight.

"Natsuo, so we still haven't found anything about the Ghost Ashikabi yet?" Minaka asked.

"Unfortunately we haven't." A man named Natsuo answered, "Whoever this ashikabi is he's good at avoiding detection plus he has #22 Kochou with him to jam the satellites. Also let's not forget that he's good at hiding too since even Karasuba couldn't sense him after he vanished from her sight."

"I see. So we have a master of stealth in the city who thinks that he can do whatever he wants? Oh yes...this is amusing. However I am the Game Master after all. I make the rules, and no 'ghost' will rewrite them." Minaka was giggling as Natsuo just sweat dropped, "Tell the Discipline Squad to call off the search for now. I have a plan in mind to get our 'ghost' to show himself to us."

In the East City of Shinto Teito, gazing from his office at the top floor of the East City Hospital is a young man wearing an all white suit. Behind his desk is another man dressed in a black suit with an orange tie around his neck and wearing glasses.

"Kakizaki, have you made an progress in finding this unknown ashikabi or anything about him?" The man in white suit asked.

"Nothing much Higa-sama. All our sources in MBI know is that this "Ghost Ashikabi" that MBI has labelled him/her as has winged four sekireis. Numbers 22, 57, 84 and surprisingly enough the scrapped sekirei. Everything else about this person is a blank slate according to them."

"So he/she winged the scrapped sekirei huh? That person must be one hell of an ashikabi to be able to undo what MBI scientists couldn't."

"What do you suppose we do with this new player in this Sekirei plan?"

"I'd like to meet this person and give them an offer they can't refuse. Kakizashi I'd like you to arrange a meeting with him."

"What if he refuses to meet you?"

"Then eliminate him right there and then."

* * *

**Chapter 6 End.**

**I apologize for this chapter as my head was jumbled up with so many ideas that it became a mess. Luckily enough I was able to get this done though I feel that it wasn't that eventful. However in the next chapter someone is going to get a message from Renato and it's not a good one. I don't want to spoil who is the receiving end of the message so I'll leave it to your imagination. **

**Read and Review and have fun.**

**FLAMERS BACK OFF!**


	7. Warning Sent

**Ghost Ashikabi**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Sekirei anime.**

**Chapter 7: Warning Sent**

* * *

Breakfast took place without an issue. When they were done Renato and his sekirei went to his room as he wanted to talk with them about what he has in mind.

"Alright ladies. I'm going to do something I don't normally do and it's to your benefit."

"What is it you have in mind Renato-sama?" Kochou asked.

"I'm going to be training you four in different things I know." Renato answered, "Yahan. I already know that you're good in stealth though not at my level but you're close so I'll help you with that and to teach you some Escrima skills to help you use your knives better."

"Really? Thanks you." Yahan said, "By the way what's Escrima?"

"It's a hybrid Filipino Martial arts style that emphasizes weapon based combat with sticks, bladed weapons like knives and even includes unarmed combat. Since you are good in using knives this can help you." Renato explained.

"Okay. As long as it helps to keep you safe I'll do it." Yahan said.

"Akitsu." Renato said as he turned to the ice sekirei, "I know that you are powerful and know a thing about being sneaky yourself but you'll need to learn to able to deal with anyone that closes the distance with you. So like Yahan I'll be teaching you how to defend yourself in close quarters whether with your hands and feet or with ice weaponry you could make."

"Ah...Okay." Akitsu nodded with her impassive face.

"Yashima. Your size is great for stealth but that hammer of yours would make it a bit difficult." Yashima lowered her head in disappointment. "However," Yashima instantly rose her head. "It's still possible to be stealthy and subtle with it. It'll just be harder."

"Renato-sama, I'm not a combat type." Kochou spoke up.

"I know but that shouldn't mean that you shouldn't be able to defend yourself. Plus, you'll need to be able to not be caught by anyone when hacking." Renato said, "For that I got something for you that'll help." He put his hand into a pouch on his belt and brought out a flash drive.

"That's a flash drive. How is that going to help?" Kochou asked in disbelief.

"Yes it's a flash drive but a special one for hacking." Renato siad instantly getting the brain type interested, "It'll help you to hack for longer and without anyone even noticing that they're being hacked until it's too late. It'll give you an extra ten minutes to hack right under their noses."

"Thank you Renato-sama!" Kochou said as she hugged Renato happily.

"Yeah you're welcome." Renato said as he gave her the flash drive, "It belonged to someone I knew. It's a little memento from them so don't ruin it."

"I'll make sure I use it well Renato-sama." Kochou said.

"Good because I'll need you to do some digging in to MBI's database for all sekirei that have been winged and not winged and the ashikabis of the ones that have been winged. Also I'll need the details of the stages of the Sekirei plan."

"I'll be right on it!" Kochou acknowledged as she got to work on her laptop.

"Alright you three will be getting trained by me and also I'll ask Miya to spar with you so you can get stronger too. So c'mon let the tor...ahem, training begin." Renato said with a sadistic grin on his face causing Yahan, Akitsu and Yashima to sweat drop.

* * *

The three sekirei # 7 Akitsu, #57 Yahan and #84 Yashima love their ashikabi. They really do but one thing they began to hate about him was the hellish torture he put them through from morning in a secluded spot in Teito park, which he claimed to be their training. Their stealth training was difficult for most of them except Yahan who was already good at stealth but Renato drilled her the most, saying that until she's able to not be detected by him that he won't be satisfied, which was close to impossible since he's incredibly perceptive and aware of his environment. Not only that, they had to sharpen their senses so that they could even faintly detect him when he's using stealth.

Close quarters training was even worse as he put them through the ringer. While Renato eased up on them he still made it hellish for them. He trained Akitsu especially, to learn to deal with opponents who can easily close the distance and force a close quarters fight. And he used himself as an opponent and made sure to make it even more hellish.

Even though Renato put them through the ringer he made sure they got water breaks, time to rest and made sure they had lunch.

When evening came, and Renato and his sekirei were walking down the street back home. Yahan, Akitsu and Yashima were glad that their hellish torture was over. Meanwhile Renato was impressed by their progress. While the three walking by his side were not happy at him for putting them through hell, he could feel that they were grateful for his training. He may not be able to call them badasses now but he can say that they are fast learners. Yahan's stealth skills were a lot better than before though not at his level yet but enough to actually make him put a little effort to sense her and her knife skills had gotten a lot better as she easily picked up on the escrima lessons. Akitsu had made progress at stealth at least close to intermediate level and she was at least capable of holding her ground in close range thanks to her learning Krav Maga, though that was going to take some getting used to. Yashima also made progress in stealth though that giant hammer of hers was still an issue Renato was trying to address and as for close quarters he taught her how to properly use her weapon without leaving herself too wide open.

"I know you three want to pound me into the ground but I hope you know that I put you through that for your own good and because I care." Renato said.

"Excuse me? YOU did that for OUR own good?" Yahan growled, "You nearly drove us to exhaustion with that insane training."

"Yes...Training...don't like at all." Akitsu added.

"Um...I do appreciate the training ashikabi-sama. But...you didn't have to be...so harsh." Yashima said.

"Like Yashima said, I also appreciate the training. Those escrima moves you showed me are cool and look out I'm getting close to your level in stealth my ashikabi." Yahan said in agreement.

"What of you Akitsu?" Renato asked the young 'yuki onna'. She lightly glared at him for a moment before her face returned to its impassive state.

"Don't like the training...but thankful that you did so." She said.

Renato smiled under the hood of his usual tattered attire. His sekirei could feel his happiness through the bond which made them happy too. However that feeling was short-lived when they felt anger and anxiety in their ashikabi and they saw him stop walking as he just stared ahead of them.

"What's wrong?" Yahan asked as she had her hand close to her knife holster.

"An annoyance has arrived." Renato said in a cold tone.

As right on cue three people showed up in front of the quartet. A man dressed in all black with an orange tie around his neck and wearing glasses was flanked by two women who Renato easily recognized as sekirei. The one on his left is tall and lithe, with green hair. She wore a white and violet open front and shoulderless top and a violet skirt that barely covered her legs. She's also holding a bo staff in her right hand. The other woman with very short hair on the right made Renato nearly face palm because of her choice of wardrobe; skin-tight clothing that made him think she was a bloody whore and all being held by a single metal ring below her breasts. She wasn't armed with anything so Renato guessed she was a hand to hand fighter type like Musubi.

The man in front shifted his glasses above his nose and maintained a calm demeanor. Though Renato could see that he was so full of shit!

"Ghost Ashikabi, you are a hard man to find. To think that we'd find you here of all places, today must be our lucky day." The man with glasses said.

"Unfortunately I'd say that you're unlucky since you picked the wrong time to show your face!" Renato said in a dark tone. His sekirei were feeling uncomfortable as they sensed his anger slowly increasing by the second. "Now leave my presence while I'm in a generous mood."

"How about you reconsider since I have a message from Higa-sama? He requests your presence for a meeting." The man said.

"Who are you?" Renato asked.

"I am Kakizaki, faithful assistant to Higa Izumi, a man that seems to be interested in you, Ghost Ashikabi." Kakizaki said with a smug grin on his face that ticked Renato off.

"How about you send your boss my answer which is **he should go hang himself! **I want nothing to do with him." Renato hissed and worrying his sekirei more because his anger was close to its breaking point.

"Are you sure you want to do that without even considering Higa-sama's proposal?" Kakizaki asked.

"I'd rather take my chances with a hungry wolf pack than deal with with that bastard." Renato answered, **"Now get the hell out of here. My patience is at its limit."**

Kakizaki sighed, "Such a shame. And you would have been a great help to Higa-sama."

"Kakizaki. Please let me deal with this one!" The short haired girl said as she walked forward, "You wouldn't mind if I took him out right Toyotama?"

"While I won't mind you having your fun Ichiya, don't forget he has three sekirei with him." Toyotama warned.

"You want me that badly huh?" Renato said as he adjusted his tattered trench coat, "Well then I'm right here."

"Ashikabi-sama!"

"Don't worry. I got this." Renato reassured his sekirei. However that did not help since their blood went cold as they sensed the overwhelming anger and blood lust in the bond. Whatever was going to happen was not going to end well and they stepped back from him.

"You think you can handle me by yourself? You must be more stupid than I expected." Ichiya said as she charged at Renato with tremendous speed.

**"So sad to hear that since it's you that doesn't know who she's messing with." **Renato said with disgust.

Ichiya threw a roundhouse kick at his face which hit nothing as Renato just parried her kick away with his left hand and used the other to clear her other leg from the ground, causing her to flip and land on her back.

"Is that all you got you little twerp?" Renato taunted, getting the reaction he wanted as Ichiya stood up in anger.

"You got lucky human!" Ichiya sneered.

"If you think so then prove it." Renato taunted as he motioned for her to come at him.

Ichiya rushed at him throwing a jumping roundhouse kick that Renato dodged. She threw a kick to his leg which he defended with a leg check, then she threw a spin kick at him which Renato evaded again. Ichiya threw a straight punch which Renato slipped under and grabbed the outstretched arm and elbowed her in the chest before flipping her over him. Ichiya kicked up and growled at Renato who just looked at her impassively.

Toyotama and Kakizaki could not believe what they were seeing. Ichiya was losing and to a human too. Too bad they didn't know that this man wasn't all that human. Renato's sekirei were not as surprised because they had already experienced his ability in close combat first hand, but they were even more surprised to see him hold his own against an opposing sekirei.

Ichiya was in a bad mood and it showed as she came at Renato once more throwing a left hook at nothing as Renato had ducked under it and countered with a right body blow and a left uppercut that snapped her head back. She gritted her teeth and stood her ground before rushing back at Renato again, throwing kicks which were all being blocked and swayed from before she threw another kick to the mid section which was nullified by an elbow block from Renato and countered by a right hook to her face, blood spilling out of her mouth. She rushed back at him once more and Renato cracked her with a spinning back elbow to the head stunning her and causing her to stagger back.

Renato rushed at the off balanced Ichiya hitting her with a jumping elbow smash and landing quick strikes to her mid section and chest before finishing with a chop to her chest that caused more blood to gush out and really daze her. Then he kicked the back of her right leg, forcing her to go on one knee, elbowed her in the neck to stun her more then spun around her and kneed her in the face knocking her out cold.

"Toyotama!" Kakizaki ordered. The female sekirei rushed at Renato with her bo staff twirling. She swung at him and missed as he ducked under the attack, she then thrust her staff at his head which Renato slipped and grabbed her staff while front kicking her face, snapping her head back and making her lose her grip. Before Toyotama could recover Renato tripped her with her staff, then spun around knocked her down while she was still in mid air knocking the wind out of her as she landed on her back.

Kakizaki was now completely shocked at what had just transpired. The Ghost Ashikabi just defeated two sekirei by himself and without any difficulty. Now his luck had gone bad and got even worse when he felt something embed itself onto his stomach. He looked down and saw a curved single-edged knife with serrated edges stuck on his stomach. When he looked up his eyes went wide as he saw the blue eyes of Renato through the darkness of his hood. Renato just stared at him and gripped the ulak blade stuck in Kakizaki.

**"You're going to be my messenger boy Kakizaki. This is the message that you'll send him." **Renato said in a cold voice.

He then twisted the ulak blade causing Kakizaki to scream like a girl before gutting him and ripping it out spilling his blood and intestines. Then he pulled out a second ulak blade and slashed across Kakizashi's chest and then slit his throat, silencing him for good as the body dropped in a bloody heap.

Renato walked up to Toyotama who had heard Kakizaki's scream and gasped at his dead body.

"Kakizaki-sama!" She shouted, before glaring at the approaching Renato.

"You've got yourself a death wish, Ghost ashikabi!"

"Not if my sekirei have a say about that." Renato mentioned. That caused her to freeze as she felt a cold blade touching the back of her neck, where her Sekirei crest is located. She caught sight of Yahan, who aimed her dagger there.

"Give me a reason." Yahan said in a no nonsense tone.

"Take your fellow sekirei and that fool's corpse back to your ashikabi and tell him to not piss me off or else I'll personally make sure that nothing is left of him." Renato said firmly.

Toyotama had no choice to apply and grumbled as she got up and took the unconscious Ichiya and dead Kakizaki before jumping away from the area. Renato watched until they were out of range before he sighed as his eyes changed back to their black color. His three sekirei walked up to him nervously and he could tell why.

"Sorry I had to let you ladies see that." Renato apologized, "I over did it there."

"No. Don't be sorry Renato-sama. It was nice of you to beat those two sekirei who are Higa's bloodhounds and also kill that smug bastard Kakizaki." Yahan said as she dismissed his apology, "I'm actually impressed that my ashikabi's a very strong human."

"Ah...Renato-sama is strong...Even stronger than a sekirei." Akitsu mentioned.

"Um...Renato-sama? Are you really human?" Yashima nervously asked, "A human can't match with a sekirei in battle yet you defeated two sekirei by yourself."

"I'd rather not say it right now. I'll tell you when I'm ready. Okay?" Renato said.

"Okay Renato-sama!" The three sekirei said.

"Now to get out of here before anyone else shows up. It's getting dark already."

The quarter continued their return back to the Maison Izumo this time by the rooftops. Unknown to them there was a figure standing above the rooftop of a building watching them as they left.

"So that's the notorious Ghost Ashikabi huh? He's quite the dangerous one. I wonder how far he'll go in this twisted game."

* * *

**Chapter 7 End.**

**Renato's decided to give Kochou a tool to help with her hacking and has also decided to train his other sekirei in stealth and combat.**

**Looks like Renato has sent his message to Higa Izumi after beating down two sekirei and killing Higa's assistant Kakizaki. How will the ashikabi of the East take it? And how will Renato's sekirei act around someone who could be that cold and vicious?**

**Who's the unknown person that's been watching?**

**Read & review. **


	8. Another Day

**Ghost Ashikabi**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Sekirei anime.**

**Chapter 8: Another Day**

* * *

Renato and his sekirei returned to Maison Izumo. He had some blood on his white tattered trench coat which he didn't seem fazed by. As for his sekirei, he could feel multiple things thanks to the bond. There was awe because of how he was able to hold his ground against a sekirei and even defeat one by himself. That was something they never expected from a human, not to mention their ashikabi, whom they were having second thoughts about him being human. There was also fear because of how ruthless, cold blooded and brutal Renato took down two of Higa Izumi's sekirei and especially the way he executed Kakizaki, Higa's right hand man and assistant. Yashima had seen Renato do that before when he executed the man who wanted to force wing her without a second thought. Yahan never knew that her ashikabi could be this cold blooded and ruthless when in combat in the open. She shuddered to think of how he was when he fought in the shadows. Akitsu as usual had her impassive face on but deep within she was scared and amazed at her ashikabi's ability to defend himself and was glad that he wasn't her enemy. Renato knew he'd have to address the issue later when they got back in their room but for now he wanted to get in and have dinner, if he didn't miss it, and rest.

Miya was already at the front porch waiting for them. As she was about to greet them she saw the blood on Renato's jacket and the different expressions on his sekirei's faces.

"Oh, my! Renato, what happened? Are you alright?" Miya asked with concern over her latest tenant.

"Don't worry yourself, Miya. It's not my blood but some morons'." Renato replied, "Is dinner still available or do I have to starve tonight?"

"Dinner is still available. I only just served it a few minutes ago." Miya answered then sighed in relief.

"Shall we all go in? I want to enjoy the rest of the day with my ladies so that I can forget about what happened today."

Everyone went inside the inn. Renato went to his room first to put his blood stained trench coat in the laundry basket and change to a blue hooded jacket and put the hood on. He went to the dining room where everyone but Kagari was in and digging in except his sekirei waiting to take their place by his side. He sighed before sitting down at his spot. As soon as he did Yahan took his left side and Akitsu took his right side leaving Yashima and Kochou to pout before they took their seat beside their sisters.

"Miya. Are you sure you have no other tenants here?" Renato asked.

"Of course there are no other tenants. Why do you ask?" Miya questioned.

"Because there is someone who's been watching Renato-sama ever since he came to the inn." Kochou answered.

"Exactly and I'd like them to reveal themselves to me before **I reveal myself to them." **Renato added.

"Ufufufu...No worries Renato. I'll be sure to deal with the little pest problem for you." Miya said while she hid her mouth with her sleeve. Renato heard someone say 'eep' from above. looks like Miya knows who this person is and the person is definitely a sekirei.

"Please do."

After dinner, Renato, his sekirei, and Uzume remained in the living room while Minato and Musubi went to their room since Minato had to work tomorrow. Renato already had an idea what was up and decided that he might as well get this over with.

"I bet you're still wondering about why I came home with blood on me, right?"

Miya and Uzume nod.

"Okay. After I had finished training Yahan, Akitsu and Yashima, we somehow bumped into some fool known as Kakizaki with two sekirei who went by the names Ichiya and Toyotoma." Renato explained. He then heard Uzume gasp after he mentioned those three people. "I take it that you know them."

"Yes. Kakizaki is Higa Izumi's right hand man and Ichiya and Toyotoma are Higa's bloodhounds that do most of his dirty work." Uzume said, "What did they want with you?"

"That Higa wanted to me to work for him. Unfortunately I wanted nothing to do with that bastard and since I rejected the offer Kakizaki ordered those two to kill me." Renato said, with Uzume gasping again, "Too bad they didn't know who they were messing with. I beat those two down without any effort and I sliced Kakizaki up a bit before slitting his throat. Right now, that Higa will be getting my message to not mess with me or I'll do the same to him."

"Whoa! Whoa! Bro...did you just say that you beat down both Ichiya and Toyotoma and kill Kakizaki?" Uzume asked in total shock.

"I did and it's not a big deal." Renato calmly responded.

"You do realize that Higa is not going to take it lying down right?" Kochou spoke up, "He can be very vindictive when someone messes with him and with you declaring yourself as an enemy he'll make efforts to take you out."

Renato scoffed, "Let the bastard come. Besides he has to find me first which he will need a miracle to do so, but I'll have no problem finding him and erasing him from the face of the earth."

"You're quite confident in yourself. Don't forget that Minaka still has you in his cross-hairs." Miya mentioned, "Let's not forget that the Discipline Squad is after you under Minaka's orders too."

"Is that suppose to make me worried?" Renato asked, "Because you'll need more than that to make me worry."

"Ara...Aren't you getting a bit overconfident?" Miya asked.

"No. I'm damn confident in myself and what I can do." Renato replied before standing up, "Once again thank you for the delicious dinner Miya. I'll be taking a bath now. And ladies, yes, you can join me. Unless Miya has a problem with it."

"Normally I would but so far you've shown restraints of your beastly urges. So I'll allow it this once." Miya said.

"Sorry but I have never had any urges that you speak of." Renato said as he left the living room with his sekirei following him.

As they left Uzume looked back at him while contemplating whether to talk to him about something or not but then she decided to not bother.

* * *

In the bathroom, Renato's sekirei finally got to see their ashikabi's face and figure for the first time ever. He stood at 6'2" tall, had white hair, with black streaks in it and a ponytail that reached his lower back, brown and black eyes. He had a medium muscular and athletic body that made the ladies want to jump him on the spot. However he was already in the bath trying to relax and his sekirei decided to just join him in it.

"So you finally show us what you've been hiding under that hood of yours, Renato-sama?" Yahan asked.

"You are quite handsome. Why hide yourself?" Kochou commented.

"I told you why. The less people know of me the better for them." Renato answered, "Now you four know my face and name."

"If you are worried about us then don't be, we can handle ourselves and your training too is making it easier for us to fight for you and protect you." Yashima said.

"You know that I prefer to fight my own battles and would rather fight alongside you four than just let you all do the heavy lifting." Renato said, "And by the way Yashima, you didn't stutter this time."

"It's because of your training...I'm starting to feel more useful to you." Yashima responded.

Renato chuckled. "Is that so? Well I'll have to keep that training going."

"Ah...training again..." Akitsu pouted.

"Yashima did you just have to remind him?" Yahan said.

"Don't worry. I'll tone it down so that you can handle it but still enough simulate a real opponent." Renato informed, "By the way Kochou, have you finished with that list I asked for?"

"Not yet. I'll be done by tomorrow. I had to hack those satellites when you dealt with Kakizaki and Higa's sekirei so that MBI couldn't locate you." Kochou answered.

"No problem. As long as you finish it that's all that I'm concerned with. And once again thanks for dealing with MBI's surveillance systems."

"I should thank you Renato-sama. that flash drive you gave me has made hacking so much better and easier. MBI has no idea of what's hit them yet."

"Good to know. Now let's enjoy ourselves."

"HAI!"

* * *

Next day came and once again, Renato found himself in an all too familiar position once more but with a few changes. Yahan on top nude, also with Yashima too on top nude, Akitsu on his left in just a long sleeved shirt and Kochou on his right in her night gown.

_'Sheesh...They are getting bolder and bolder everyday.' _he thought.

Once more he slipped out of their grasps, got dressed in a grey hoodie and left the room. He made his way to the backyard and when he got there a smile came on his face.

He spotted Miya in a relaxed stance, having her hand near her sheathed katana, waiting like a cobra ready to strike. The sword itself looked well crafted and Renato could tell that the wielder was knew how to use that blade well. As some leaves were falling around she placed her hand on the handle of the katana and in one smooth motion she drew the katana and sheathed it very quickly. Then the leaves around her split into even halves. Perfect form and movement.

_'If that battle crazed fool saw this he'd be salivating at her and asking for a fight. Though I'd admit that I'd like to test myself against her.'_

Renato clapped which got Miya's attention who looked up at him with a surprised look on her face but not enough to fool Renato. He knew that she'd sensed him already though he wasn't even attempting to hide his presence to begin with.

"That was a great display, Miya. That's a flawless form you got there." Renato complimented the landlady.

"Oh, hey, good morning Renato. You're up early again." Miya said.

"Yes, I am. I was thinking of practicing some moves myself before I saw your Iaijutsu in action." Renato said, "And I'm glad I did. Do you want to spar with me?"

Miya put her hand to her mouth as she giggled in amusement. She brought her hand back down and drew it back to her katana. "Okay, I'll be happy to indulge you. Just don't expect me to go easy on you."

Renato drew out his ulak blades and held them in a reverse grip. His right side forward with the swing blade held in front of him and the other one held back parallel to his arm. His stance was relaxed but still at the ready for quick offence and defense and for closing the distance in seconds.

The two waited for a while. Just as a leaf touched the ground, Renato had closed the distance between him and Miya in seconds and the two began clashing with their weapons. Like a dancer, Miya was using graceful footwork and positioning to evade and create distance for her attacks while Renato weaved through her attacks like a boxer and kept up his own offence like a wolverine with slashes and some hand-to-hand attacks..

The sounds of blades clashing of course got the attention of the other tenants in the house as they all woke up. Renato's sekirei especially found out that their ashikabi was not with them and they quickly got dressed and went outside. They were followed by Uzume, Minato and Musubi. When they got to the backyard they were all surprised to see what seemed like a dance of blades as they watched in awe at Miya and Renato's intense sparring match. Yahan, Akitsu, Kochou and Yashima watched in awe and pride at their strong ashikabi who was definitely holding her ground against the landlady. They were even happy that he was enjoying the match through their bond with him. Uzume had her jaw hanging as she couldn't believe that this man, Renato Agba was able to go toe to toe with someone like Miya who was damn powerful in her own right. It made her wonder just how strong this ashikabi was. Minato was just as surprised as Uzume and Musubi was just staring with stars in her eyes at the match.

The sparring match went on until Miya managed to disarm Renato of one of his ulak blades and tried to take advantage of his off balanced position, however Renato recovered in time to dodge the attack, use his foot to pick up his dropped weapon and catch it in mid air before he lunged back into range and both ended up in a stalemate with Miya's katana and Renato's ulak blades in a deadlock. When none of them could get the other to give in they both leaped away from each other and stayed some distance from each other before they lowered their stances.

"Not bad Renato, that was a good match." Miya said as she relaxed.

"Same to you Miya. You nearly had me many times." Renato replied.

"Ara, it's more like I had more close calls." Miya said.

It was true that during the match both had multiple chances to land fatal hits that could end the match. Miya had the range, speed, skill and power while Renato had shorter range but more speed and precision. No matter how Miya tried to keep the distance and attack, Renato would easily dodge or parry the attack before closing the gap and maintain his blitz offence of slashes and kicks. Same went for Renato, every time he got in close range Miya would just block and parry his strikes while using her footwork to create room and throw precise and powerful slashes. At the end their fight ended as a draw since they knew that they could keep this going for a long time and still not have a decisive victor.

The sound of clapping brought the two back to reality as Miya and Renato saw their audience clapping in applause for the show.

"I see that you enjoyed the show." Renato said.

Then Musubi, with stars in her eyes rushed up to him and Miya.

"Landlady-san, would you spar with me, please?" Musubi pleaded.

Miya chuckled, "I'd love to but I have to prepare breakfast now. Another time."

Musubi pouted but then turned to Renato, who already knew what she wanted to say.

"Sure. Why not?" He said.

Miya smiled as she walked back into the house to prepare breakfast. When she got inside the inn, Musubi charged right at Renato. She was quite fast according to him, most likely because she's a fist type sekirei. Musubi threw a straight right, aiming for his face, which he easily slipped under. She followed up with another straight punch which was slipped again and she was rewarded with a heavy left flicker jab to her face. Musubi recovered quickly and came back with a two punch combo which missed and this time Renato clipped her with a left hook and dropped her on her butt. Musubi got back up and continued her offence and getting countered with flicker jabs and lead hooks.

"I've been meaning to ask, Yahan, what's your ashikabi like?" Uzume inquired.

Yahan sighed, "Honestly, I can't say much. He's a secretive one with a bit of paranoia. He always has a hood over his face and he's very good at stealth. It took me a lot of effort to find him when I reacted to him."

"Really? He's that sneaky? How is he also able to go toe to toe with a sekirei?"

"I don't know myself. He prefers to avoid battles anyway but as you can see, he's no slouch in combat. Heck, he's been training me, Akitsu and Yashima in stealth and close quarters combat himself."

"Ah...he's as strong as a sekirei himself. Even stronger than me." Akitsu added.

"What?!" Uzume exclaimed, "Your ashikabi's as strong as a single digit?! No way!"

"Believe it or not, he's powerful for a human. That is if you can call him one." Yahan said.

"I hope your ashikabi realizes that he's put a big target on his back with his killing of Kakizaki." Uzume said.

"Well Higa Izumi is going to need all the luck in the world to find our ashikabi." Kochou said, "And so does MBI and that Mikogami brat. He's practically a ghost to everyone but us and that's because of our bond with him."

"Ah...match is over." Akitsu speaks up, getting everyone's attention to the sight of Musubi, flat on her face, seeing stars and little canaries and Renato standing a few feet from her and sighing at her.

"Whoa! Renato-san beat Musubi." Minato said in surprise.

"That's not surprising." Yashima said, "Renato-sama had been holding back against her throughout the sparring match."

"Really?!"

"Yeah. He was holding back." Yahan confirmed, "If he had been serious, he would have ended the fight already."

Musubi got up from the ground and sat down as she looked up at Renato.

"Wow! Renato-san is really strong!" she said.

"You're not bad yourself Musubi." Renato replied, "You've got a lot of energy and potential but you lack technique. Just throwing powerful attacks without setting them up won't cut it against a skilled opponent. Also you're too straight forward with your attacks, try to mix up your attacks so that you can confuse your opponents."

"Hai! Thank you very much for sparring with me! Can we do it again?"

"You're welcome, Musubi. I may be able to but I still have my own sekirei to train too. How about you ask Miya?"

"Okay! I'll ask landlady-sama for help."

"That's good. Now excuse me."

Renato patted the bubbly sekirei's head making her squeal like a puppy before he went up to meet the others at the door.

"Morning to you all. Hope you enjoyed the little show. Now excuse me while I talk with my four ladies."

Renato walked into the inn followed by his four sekirei. When they entered their room, he sat down on the couch and the others sat on the other chairs.

"Kochou. Are you done with the list now?" Renato asked.

"Yes I am. I have it right here." Kochou answered as she gave her ashikabi a folder with the list he asked for.

It contained the list of names of ashikabis, winged sekirei and unwinged sekirei still in the sekirei plan. Of course, his name wasn't on the list since MBI still can't find him.

"Thanks for the list, Kochou. I appreciate it." Renato said, "What's the status with MBI concerning me?"

Kochou adjusted her glasses before she answered, "So far MBI seems to have called off their search for you. The Discipline Squad is no longer part of the search too."

"Ha! So they gave up on catching Renato-sama? About time they knew that they can't catch a ghost." Yahan bragged.

"I doubt that they've given up on me." Renato deadpanned, "Most likely Minaka has a plan in mind to flush me out. Since he's the "Game Master", he thinks he holds the cards in the sekirei plan. However I'm the wild card in this game, the dark horse that can make or break the game."

"I agree with with you. Minaka won't stop until he discovers your identity and deals with you for giving him a headache." Kochou added.

"So what's our next move Renato-sama?" Yashima asked.

"I've got a plan of action involving the sekirei plan based on what move Minaka makes." Renato answered, "For now we lay low, gather information and keep training."

"Training...again." Akitsu muttered.

"Please Renato-sama. Go easy on us." Yashima pleaded.

"Today, you two will be sparring with Miya, which I'll be telling her about." Renato replied, "Kochou, is there anything new in Shinto Teito?"

"There's some unusual forest at the botanical gardens. It came up suddenly two-three days ago." Kochou answered while she worked on her computer.

"Unusual in what way?" Yahan asked.

"A forest like that doesn't just grow that easily. I'd say that it's definitely a work of a sekirei." Renato answered.

"Exactly Renato-sama. It's definitely the work of a sekirei." Kochou concurred.

"Looks like you and I are going to do some scouting there, Yahan." Renato said.

"What are we looking for in particular?" Yahan asked.

"The sekirei that caused it and also check out the defenses there."

"Alright. When do we leave?"

"Now. And we won't take long."

* * *

On the top of a building not far from the botanical garden were Renato and Yahan. Both were looking down at the place and observing the place.

"Who do you think's in there?" Yahan asked with interest.

"Trees, vegetation, water, and the sekirei capable of causing this?" Renato deadpanned, "Security meant to keep us out too? Anything else that's obvious?"

"Point taken." Yahan responded as she looked down at the botanical gardens. "Renato-sama. There's so much forest here that it'll be impossible for us to find the sekirei that caused it here."

"I know, but I can sense her though, barely from where our position." Renato said.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get her already." Yahan said.

"She's not reacting to me, but to Minato Sahashi. I wanted to at least help him locate her." Renato corrected.

"Why? Why are you helping him get another sekirei?" Yahan asked.

"Because I want to. The kid's in way over his head in this sekirei plan and he'll need all the help he can get." Renato explained.

"You know that he may one day be your opponent in this game?"

"If there is even a sekirei plan at all. I intend to put an end to this farce when the time comes."

"I see...Okay Renato-sama. What's next?"

"We go back. Just by looking at this security here I can already see 171 ways for us to get in and out undetected."

Which was true for someone like Renato. Just by looking at the security around the Botanical Gardens he could see that many ways to infiltrate and get out without any effort. And that was just by flat out looking at the place. If he had observed the place he'd see even more holes in their defenses.

"Really? You can see that many holes in their defenses?"

"Yes, and that's just by looking right now. If I was observing it then I'd see even more."

"Okay...So we just go home, Renato-sama?"

"Yes we do, Yahan. C'mon."

Renato and Yahan returned to Maison Izumo without any issues. First thing he did was go tell Minato about where the sekirei that was reacting to him was.

"So Kusano-chan is in the Botanical Garden?" Minato asked in interest.

"So her name is Kusano? And she's a child too?" Renato asked surprised.

"Hai. She told me her name when I had a dream about her again." Minato answered.

"Okay. Now that you know where she is, I'd advice you to find her soon because I have a bad feeling that someone would want to force wing her too." Renato advised.

"Hai. Thanks for helping me."

"All I've done is tell you where Kusano is. When she's with you is when you can thank me."

Renato spent most of the day training Akitsu and Yashima in close quarters training and watching Miya spar with them. He was seeing a lot of improvement and less complaining from those two. He also had Yahan resting and Kochou on her computer trying to find much more information from MBI. When Yasima and Akitsu were done he let them rest and then went on to train Yahan too and watch her spar with Miya. Yahan too had become even better with her daggers and with the Escrima style he trained her in.

After he was done with his sekirei, Renato decided to keep himself sharp and fit with some push ups, crunches and practising his Silat, Krav Maga and Escrima motions. While he was doing that Miya and Uzume watched him.

"Miya, doesn't Renato remind you of someone?" Uzume asked.

"Yes he does Uzume...and you know who don't you?" Miya answered.

"Yep. He reminds me of sensei in a way."

"Except that Renato's more calm, controlled and methodical. Sensei is a lot more explosive, hot-tempered and completely unorthodox."

"Do you think that he's related to sensei then?"

"I don't know, Uzume. Unless he tells us his secrets which won't be anytime soon, we'll still be left in the dark."

After fifteen minutes of practice, Renato got back inside to see everyone apart from Kagari as usual in the living room all sitting down ready for dinner which consisted of ramen noodles and curry soup. His sekirei of course waiting for him, Minato with the ever energetic and happy Musubi, Uzume in her usual purple shirt with a star at the front and jeans, and Miya in her usual attire. He was thinking about revealing himself to the household but decided to hold off on that for now. He took his place on one side of the table and had Yahan at his left and Kochou on his right while Akitsu and Yashima pouted as they sat beside their 'sisters'.

"Is it me, Miya or do you enjoy watching me practice my martial arts?" Renato asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Miya asked trying to act surprised and not fooling Renato one bit.

"You were watching me again before dinner and so was Uzume."

"Huh?! How did you know bro?" Uzume asked.

"Call it a sixth sense I acquired when people were observing me a lot." Renato answered, "By the way, you like what you see?"

Uzume's face went red at that question and was trying to not spill her curry soup all over the table. Miya was also stunned by his attempt at teasing them but managed to not show it.

"EH?!" Uzume blinked, as she faced the hooded man.

"You can look but you can't touch." Renato said while grinning at his attempt at teasing the busty Sekirei.

"Oh my. I hope that you are not giving in to your beastly urges." Miya said with a small smile and a fake look of wariness, "Who knows when you'd try to make a move on a poor widow like me?"

"Oh I don't know of these 'beastly urges' you are talking about." Renato said with a faked hurt tone, "Maybe I should be on my guard in case one of you two tried something."

"EEEEEEHHHHH!"

That came from not only Uzume but Miya too as both of their faces were red in embarrassment.

"H-H-Hey! I-I have my o-own ashikabi, t-thank you very much!" Uzume stuttered, "Besides I doubt your sekirei want me anywhere near you." As she said that she felt the dark aura that came from all four of Renato's sekirei who were glaring at her.

As for Miya, she just chuckled while hiding her mouth with her sleeve.

"I'm only joking you two. Though your reactions were priceless." Renato said with a smile on his face which the others could not see due to the hood. However before Uzume could retort, Minato spoke up while holding his cellphone out.

"Um...Renato-san. You'd want to see this."

Renato took the young teen's phone and read the contents. Almost immediately his posture became rigid and he became silent. His sekirei however felt the controlled but impending rage threatening to come out. Everyone else had no idea why his entire body language changed so suddenly after reading the text on the phone.

The hooded man suddenly stood up, startling everyone and tossed the cellphone back to Minato.

**"Minato. What the hell are you waiting for? Get your ass out there now! Yahan, Akitsu, Yashima. We're moving out too. Kochou, disrupt MBI's surveillance!"** Renato said in a very serious and commanding tone. Minato was instantly out of the house, scared out of his mind, with Musubi following close behind. Uzume was shivering in fear and Miya just straightened her posture and narrowed her eyes at Renato. Yahan, Akitsu, and Yashima got up immediately ready to go and Kochou was already on her way to their room to get to work. Renato looked at Miya and bowed.

"I'm sorry for leaving in the middle of dinner but something important has come up that requires me and Minato's attention." He said in his normal voice.

Miya was gazing at him with both eyes focused on him. After a few seconds, she smiled and nodded.

"I see. Very well, do what you must but do be careful with whatever it is you two are going to do." She said in a calm voice.

"Can't make promises about that." Renato replied, "But I'll do my best."

* * *

**Chapter 8 End.**

**Sorry for taking so long to update. Too many things to deal with.**

**Read & Review.**


	9. Green Girl Extraction

**Ghost Ashikabi**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Sekirei anime. Only the OC is mine.**

**Chapter 9: Green Girl Extraction**

* * *

It was dark when Renato, Yahan, Akitsu and Yashima arrived at the Botanical Gardens. They were standing on the roof of a building not far from the place. Renato was standing upright in a black ops body suit with gauntlets and combat boots, his ulak blades and a suppressed .45 ACP pistol in their holsters, a pouch containing smoke grenades and flash bangs, a black hooded trench coat and a balaclava covering his face. He was observing the situation below him. Standing to his left was Yahan, crouched down observing the situation too. Akitsu was behind him, standing perfectly still and expressionless awaiting orders and Yashima was on his right with her giant hammer supported on her shoulder slightly shaking in anxiety.

Right now Renato was looking at the aftermath of a recent attack on the front gates to the Botanical Gardens. The gate was decimated. The ATVs were wrecked and sliced in two, signifying the use of a bladed weapon, there were dead or injured guards everywhere and the smell of blood in the air was so thick it almost reminded him too much of someone familiar; himself when he went off the rails.

After seeing enough he ran down the side of the building towards the ground while his sekirei leaped down to meet him at the bottom while in awe at his feat. When they reached the ground the group of four made their way to the front of the gardens and saw the damage up close.

"Looks like someone chose to be direct in this case." he said, "Question is who's the moron that chose to do so?"

"I have an idea who may have caused the damage." Yahan said as she observed the damage done to the ATVs, "Based on how perfectly smooth the cut is I'd say that it's the work of #43 Yomi."

"Yomi..." Yashima began, "She wields a scythe and has a really bad attitude and no problem with killing anyone in her way."

"Is that so? So she's someone with no morals huh, too bad that she chose today to be a bloodthirsty person today." Renato said.

"Why do you say that Renato-sama?" Yashima asked nervously.

"Because tonight will be her last night in the land of the living." Renato answered bluntly.

"So are we going to do this the way you planned earlier?" Yahan asked.

"Yes. I'd like to avoid as much trouble as possible though we'd better be quick about it before they get to Kusano." Renato replied as he put the hood over his head, "Let's move out!"

* * *

The four got into the gardens and proceeded to stealthily get to the one known as Kusano as fast as possible. They stuck to the darkness produced by the trees in the area and tried to make as little noise as possible. So far so good they did not meet any resistance. Then they noticed a mist in the area and then voices coming from it. Renato and his sekirei leaped into the trees and eavesdropped on the conversation.

"What do you know? It looks like the Sekirei Guardian is here by himself." A voice came up from Renato's left. He could tell that it was female. "I hope you are not winged yet, while weren't sent to get you, our ashikabi would love to get his hands on you."

"Homura...so you're here." Renato muttered to himself. He tried to focus on the environment to discern where she was and noticed that she was staying further from Homura's position but not that far from his group. Then he heard it. The scuffling of feet combined with a slight sound of flora being stepped on by high heels, making it much more clear that it was a female sekirei and was the one causing the mist.

"The only way Mikogami is getting his hands on me is if I'm dead." Homura stated in a calm voice as what seemed to be flames were produced in the mist allowing Renato to pinpoint where he was.

"That can be arranged." Another voice said. This one was also female but much further North of Renato's position.

_"So that little brat's after Kusano. Well he's going to be disappointed or dead."_ Renato thought.

"What's do you want us to do Renato-sama?" Yahan whispered to him.

"Yahan, Akitsu, Yashima." Renato whispered out for his sekirei to hear.

"Yes, Renato-sama?" came from both sekirei.

"Homura's here and with two sekirei around him. One to our left and one further North. The one to our left is the one causing the mist and has no idea of us being near her." The ashikabi whispered as he outlined his plan, "Yahan, deal with the one to our left. Yashima, Akitsu, back up Homura and take out the other one."

"Yes, Renato-sama." Renato's sekirei acknowledged in whispers.

Yahan and Yashima silently went down to the ground from the tree and made their way to their assigned targets while Akitsu has her arms down as the air around her became cool and countless ice daggers formed above her.

Yahan prowled towards the left from the tree she jumped from until she got a small glimpse of her target. The sekirei was tall with long grey-blonde hair, wearing a dress that exposed her cleavage and a miniskirt held by crisscrossed belts on her waist and covered in a light blue overcoat. She didn't seem to have noticed Yahan at all since she was too busy concentrating on the maintaining the mist.

Yahan drew out her dagger and quickly put one of Renato's lessons in stealth takedowns to use as she put her hand over her target's mouth, muffling her surprised shriek and stabbing her in the chest. Yahan then pulled the weapon out and then slit the sekirei's throat, terminating her target on the spot. With her task completed disappeared into the shadow and leaped up back to where Renato was as the mist began to clear.

Akitsu used that as a cue to act as she launched her ice projectiles without warning at the other enemy sekirei.

"What the hell? Why did you-gaaaah?!" The other sekirei was interrupted as she had to evade the countless ice missiles threatening to impale her. She had long blonde hair in pigtails, wore a black Chinese style dress with a yellow stripe running down the center of it, black stockings, high-heeled boots and white gloves. She was wielding a whip as a weapon though she was too busy dodging to use it. The blonde then had to dodge a giant hammer that came down on her and left a large crater where she was standing before.

Homura was confused about what had just happened. One moment he was trapped in a mist between two of Hayato Mikogami's sekirei, ready to fight his way out to get to Kusano, the next moment the mist begins to clear and he sees the other sekirei frantically dodging ice projectiles and a giant hammer wielding person. Ice?! Giant hammer?! That meant only one thing. Renato was here with his sekirei.

Looking to his left he nearly freaked out as he spotted the man himself: The Ghost Ashikabi and he was wearing an all black attire and equipped for infiltration. Beside him was Yahan flicking some blood off a dagger which gave the Sekirei Guardian an idea of what happened to Mikogami's other sekirei.

"Don't freak me out like that Renato-san!"

"Your fault for not detecting me Homura. Though I'd prefer it if you didn't call me by my name in public."

"Okay I can do that. And I take it that Yahan terminated the other sekirei."

"Yes I did, Homura." Yahan said.

"Well then let's move." Renato said to Homura, "We'll leave Akitsu and Yashima to deal with that one. We have to find little Kusano before that one known as Yomi does." Homura looked at Renato, studying him for a moment before he nodded in agreement. The three then moved into the trees and moved deeper into the Arboretum.

The air was thick, warm and moist due to so much flora and trees packed so closely together. The stealth master could already feel his sneaking suit sticking to his skin due to his sweat and the moisture from the atmosphere. He didn't mind the heat and while he was not feeling as comfortable as he'd like, he wasn't bothered by it since he'd been through worse.

The area was also very dark but not a big deal for Renato, thanks to his enhanced eyesight that gave him good night vision. Even though he had better vision than a normal human, he knew that he was still human in some ways. Besides he didn't want Yomi or any other sekirei sent by Mikogami to notice them approaching, so as to keep up the element of surprise.

Homura himself wondering how this man was able to see through this dark forest that only had a bit of light in it to guide them. More he was intrigued at how Renato was able to move around making very little noise and Yahan was mimicking him very well too. He wondered if those two were in sync as they both moved quickly in the barely lit forest. He was able to keep up with them barely without making noise.

The three reached a clearing that was much more lit. Renato crouched down as he focused on sensing Kusano or anyone else in the area while Yahan stood by close to him with daggers ready for when she had to take action. Homura stood nearby also looking around.

"So why are you here? Are you trying to add #108 to your flock?" Homura asked.

"No, I'm not here to make Kusano my sekirei. I'm only helping Minato to get to her before anyone else does. He's her ashikabi after all." Renato answered.

"So you're not here because of the message that bastard sent to all the Ashikabi?"

"No, but I had a feeling that he'd do it. Just didn't expect it to be so soon. Although I was planning on getting her out of this place tonight after I had done a bit of scouting earlier today. Minaka just made me rush my plan."

"#108, Kusano. She was on a day trip from the lab when an Ashikabi attacked her adjustor and tried to wing her afterwards."

"I'll make a guess that the asshole of an Ashikabi that attacked was none other than Hayato Mikogami. Spoilt brats like him need a painful lesson in humility or a one way trip to hell. The latter I'm leaning towards since he's willing to send a bloodthirsty sekirei like #43 Yomi to retrieve the young child."

Renato stopped as he finally managed to pinpoint Kusano's location with his sensory ability. She was northwest of their position but he also detected Yomi approaching her in that same direction. He also sensed five more people coming from the East of them. Two of them he recognized as Minato and Musubi. The other three he had no idea of though two of them felt familiar.

"I've found Kusano but also-"

"ONII-CHAN!" The scream of a little girl interrupted him as he sensed the girl's fear and Minato's. He also sensed Yomi's blood lust and impatience and it made his blood boil immediately as his fingers twitched and his body shook in rage. If that Yomi tried anything to the young child he was going to do more than just kill her. He'll make it a massacre!

Yahan felt Renato's emotions and started to almost feel sorry for Yomi. 'Almost' being the keyword here. It was the same feeling she got when they had been confronted by Kakizaki and Higa's Sekirei, except it was more more overwhelming.

"Oi!" Homura shouted at the hooded man, who was no longer paying attention to him, in worry. Renato's body was shaking and his hands were twitching. He couldn't tell what the man was thinking since he couldn't see his face. "Are you alright Renato-san?" he asked when he didn't get a response from him.

"Someone's going to die tonight and it won't be me or Kusano!" Renato said. Then without warning in one quick motion he broke off into a sprint, leaving two craters where his feet had been. He leaped on a tree branch and continued his way Northwest into the darkness there.

"What the hell!" Homura shouted in shock.

"He's going towards Kusano and I have a feeling that #43 Yomi is going to go through hell." Yahan said, before leaping into the trees to follow her Ashikabi.

Renato blazed through the forest, adrenaline pumping through his veins and pure anger pushing his body to go so fast that he was merely a blur to anyone who might have seen him but still silent enough to not be heard. He strained his ears to follow the voice of the little frantic girl who was no doubt trying to get away from Yomi. Finally he landed in what looked like the heart of the forest, removed his hood and the balaclava from his face as he tried to regulate his breathing and scanned the area.

"No! Stop it!" Came the cry of terror from a scared child. The shout was followed by another voice.

"I promised Mikogami-sama I would bring you back in one piece you stubborn brat! But if you're going to be like this, then I'll just have to bring you in pieces." The voice was clearly female, older than the child. Yomi was closing the distance between her and Kusano who was now cornered by a tree. She was ready to use her scythe on the child because she had been stubborn and was testing her patience. Before she could move closer to the girl, she was interrupted by a sharp pain in her stomach.

She looked down to see a serrated, curved blade in her stomach, gripped by a black gloved hand coming from her back. The person who did it walked in front of her blocking her view of Kusano and Yomi's blood went cold as she saw ice-cold blue eyes glaring at her in nothing but rage. The man had white hair with black streaks in it and dark skin with a medium athletic and muscular body. He was clad in all black with some form of equipment on him and wore a black trench coat on top. In his other hand was a weapon similar to the one in her stomach now.

Renato was staring into the brown eyes of the one known as Yomi who had made his blood boil. She had light brown hair which was tied in the back by a black ribbon and wore a black and white dress that reached her thighs and was now getting stained in blood, black stockings and gloves. She was barely holding on to her large scythe as she stared back at him in defiance though he could sense her fear at being at his mercy. A gasp from behind him prompted him to look over his shoulder at the young child.

"You're not onii-chan. Who are you?" Kusano asked the man clad in all black that had just saved her from the scary lady that was trying to capture her.

"I'm a friend of your onii-chan. He is on his way here now." Renato calmly answered with a smile.

"Really?! Onii-chan's here?" Kusano creid out in excitement.

"Yes he is and he'll soon be here." Renato said. Then from the corner of his eyes he saw Yahan arrive surprising Kusano and the Shadow Sekirei stared at him and Yomi and had wide eyes before she looked at Kusano again.

"Nice of you to join us Yahan." He said before looking at Kusano. "Kusano, that's Yahan, my sekirei and a very good friend of mine. Now I'll need you to close your eyes now while I deal with the bad lady that scared you okay?"

"Okay." Kusano said as she closed her eyes.

"Yahan. Stay with Kusano and keep her safe until I'm done here. And cover her ears too." Renato commanded.

"You got it." Yahan acknowledged as she went to the child's side and crouched next to her while covering the child's ears.

Renato now turned his full attention to Yomi who now had blood in her mouth as she struggled to talk due to the amount of pain she was in.

"Not feeling so hot right now ,huh? You blood thirsty bitch!"

"Y-You i-insolent m-mongrel."

"How does it feel to be the one at Death's door?"

"Damn you!"

"No damn you. And while you're going to hell, say hi to the devil for me."

Renato twisted the ulak blade that was in Yomi's stomach and ripped it open, causing her to scream as he spilt her blood and insides as he removed the blade from her then with both ulak blades he slashed across her chest multiple times and then slit her throat with both blades, before violently front kicking her away from him, her body rolling away from him and finally stopping some distance away. With one last shudder she whimpered "Mikogami-sama" before she ceased moving for good.

After flicking the blood away from his weapons and holstering them, Renato put on his balaclava and hood on as walked towards Yahan and Kusano. His sekirei seeing his eyes change from blue to black as she stared in shock at him.

"Damn! That's cold-blooded. Even for you Ashikabi-sama." Yahan said.

"Better you than Kusano to see what could scar her for life." Renato replied.

"Umm...is it over?" Kusano asked. Yahan removed her hands from the child's ears allowing her hear normally again.

"It is over. You can open your eyes now." Renato said. Kusano opened her bright green eyes to see Renato and Yahan in front of her. Both were smiling at her making her feel even happier and secure but she would prefer to be with her onii-chan right now and Renato could see that.

"Ku-chan! Ku-chan where are you?" Came the voice of Minato. He was about to enter the clearing.

"Onii-chan! Is that you?" Kusano shouted happily.

Almost immediately Minato entered the clearing and spotted Kusano, Renato and Yahan. He sighed in relief as he moved towards them as Kusano ran to her ashikabi. Soon Musubi, Akitsu, Yashima, Homura and three other people entered the area. Akitsu and Yashima spotted their ashikabi and Yahan and walked past the others to meet him.

Renato looked at his other two Sekirei and noticed a few rips and tears on their outfits and a few cuts and bruises which were recovering thanks to Sekirei's ability to recover from their injuries. He kissed each of them including Yahan who was about to pout about being left out.

"I take it that you were successful, my ladies?" Renato asked.

"Yes...we had no problem completing our task." Akitsu answered while blushing from the kiss she'd received earlier.

"I sense a 'but' somewhere right?" Renato inquired.

"We ran into more trouble from two more of Mikogami's Sekirei." Yashima answered, "One of them looked just like the one we took out while the other was #5 Mutsu. Fortunately #88 Musubi, #11 Hikari and #12 Hibiki came in time to help us and force Mutsu and the other sekirei to retreat."

"I see. Well it's a good thing you two are alright and here with me. You both did well." Renato said making Yashima and Akitsu to smile and their faces to become redder. Then he turned to Yahan. "Looks like you put my lessons on stealth takedowns to use though I didn't expect you to add your own twist to it."

"Well I was taught by the best." Yahan said proudly.

"Yes you were. In fact you all did well in stealth and the use of the element of surprise. Congrats to you three." Renato stated.

"Um...where's Yomi?" Yashima asked.

"It'll be better if you don't know." Yahan said.

Akitsu nodded as if in agreement with her.

"Now let's join the others and leave this place." Renato said since he wanted to be out of this forest already.

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**Chapter 9 End.**

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